World AIDS Day: KGMU to hold monthly OPD for LGBTQ+ patients
This will be done to facilitate proper treatment of healthcare needs of the LGBTQIA+ community without stigma or judgement
The King George’s Medical University (KGMU) will run a separate outpatient department (OPD) clinic for members of the LGBTQIA+ community on the last Thursday of every month.
Dr D Himanshu, in-charge of the Anti-Retroviral Therapy Centre at KGMU said that this will be done to facilitate proper treatment of healthcare needs of the LGBTQIA+ community without stigma or judgement.
This clinic will address medical issues including psychiatric, dermatological, gastroenterological as well as all their other needs. “The clinic will provide an inclusive space for comprehensive care,” said Dr Himanshu. As for Lucknow, he said that HIV registrations have risen from a little shy of 450 in 2021-2022 to nearly 800 in 2023-24 so far.
He also stressed the use of the TLD drug, (tenofovir, lamivudine, and dolutegravir), which is available at the ART Centre of KGMU, and is now the recommended combination of drugs by the World Health Centre. TLD comes in the form of a pill, and is used for the treatment and prevention of HIV.
According to experts, the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) Phase-V aims to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat in India and the entire focus now in the state is to reduce annual new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths by 80%.
At a workshop held by UP State AIDS Control Program on Saturday, joint director AK Singhal and other officials spoke of the different efforts being made in the state to reduce the incidence of AIDS among people living with HIV, sex workers, and injectable drug users and other high risk groups.
According to data from the State UP AIDS Control Program, Uttar Pradesh has 1.97 lakh people living with HIV out of total 25.44 lakh in India and 1.20 lakh in state are on medication at the antiretroviral therapy centre.