While making way through the smelly passages of LNJP hospital swarming with people, you get the impression of yet another hospital, till you reach Room no. 55.
Room no. 55 hugs you with its soothing blue walls donning paintings, a cherry yellow aisle with a poem on HIV/AIDS in a corner and, of course, two pairs of lips flashing warm smiles that promise to relax the visitor instantly.
Welcome to the Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre in LNJP hospital courtesy Modicare foundation.
It was established in 2002 as a part of corporate social responsibility for counselling and testing HIV/AIDS. The partners were the Delhi State AIDS Control Society, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital, in one of the earliest public-private partnerships on HIV/AIDS.
Laxmi, around 40, a boisterous, proud mother of four, is HIV positive. She came to the VCTC a few years ago with her husband who was suffering from AIDS. He had brought her for the test and unfortunately she was confirmed positive.
Today she thanks VCTC as she says “Had didi ( the female counsellor) not been there, life would have been different. After my husband’s death in 2005 she arranged for financial assistance from an NGO. Now my children go to school and I am able to make ends meet.”
People who come here are scared of the term itself, let alone the virus. As male counsellor Pramod Singh puts it: “It is the fear of HIV/AIDS that is more killing than the virus itself. We try to explain to them that no disease is permanently curable, so why fear HIV. One can lead a fully normal life inspite of the disease.”
The centre was set up to provide counselling and testing to people suffering from the HIV/AIDS. Counselling is basically a method to help the patients come out with all the fears and doubts and help them in overcoming them. The centre has two excellent counsellors — one for females, Geeta Lal and the other for males, Pramod Singh, who provide the patients the necessary strength to cope with the situation.
So far, the centre boasts of reaching out to around 6,000 cases out of which 581 have been confirmed positive.
The strategy of Modicare has been to target the poor migrant labourers, besides others who are recommended to them through partner NGOs.
Says Pramod, “The suspected patients are mainly from economically-backward classes which includes a large chunk of migrant workers from Chattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya pradesh and others. Living far from families, these people are subjected to high-risk behaviour and thus more prone to the disease.
So far the centre has worked with sex workers, CRPF jawans, truck drivers, Metro rail workers, Air Force, employees of private companies and even school children. The centre provided school and hostel facilities for the children of sex workers with the help of NGOs. Asked about the success rate, Singh says, “Even after the end of the programme the sex workers have been pouring in for treatment.” he quips.
The foundation has tied-up with several NGOs. They provide assistance to the people referred by the centre. Salaam Balak Trust, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Sahara, Sharan,YWCA, Desh are some of the NGO partners working with Modicare's VCTC.
Where people face hostile relatives, the foundation seeks help of NGOs like Lawyers Collective and Human Rights Law Network which provide legal assistance to the patients.
Lawyers Collective however refused to divulge the information regarding the cases handled so far.
Currently, the centre is pursuing projects with the CII in Gurgaon for spreading awareness among industrial workers and construction worker near Saket in Delhi.
By Shruti Srivastava
Source : http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?leftnm=3&subLeft=2&chklogin=N&autono=304127&tab=r
Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.
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