Order of the High Court of Tripura regarding the status of HIV/AIDS in Tripura, 09/01/2025
Order of the High Court of Tripura in the matter of Court on its own motion Vs The Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare & Others dated 09/01/2025.
The HC was informed that National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) has granted approval for establishing two new Facility-integrated ART Centres (Fi-ARTC) at Khowai and Gomati districts and also for one new District Monitoring Unit (to cover both Gomati and South districts). Further State AIDS Prevention and Control Society (SACS) has been directed to seek additional budget approval under annual action plan for financial year 2025-2026 for operationalisation of these sites.
Dr. Chinmoyee Das, Public Health Specialist, Grade-I, NACO submitted that the NACO is constantly monitoring the progress of AIDS Control work in Tripura in collaboration with the State AIDS Control Society. Apart from that, it is stated that the State AIDS Control Society has already established 24 numbers of Stand Alone Integrated Counseling & Testing Centre (SA-ICTC) and 133 numbers of Facility Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre (F-ICTC) for screening and testing services.
Three public-private partnerships (PPP) model ICTC Centres and one number of mobile ICTC van are functional in the state. Thirteen numbers of Targeted intervention NGOs, 2 Link Worker Schemes and 4 One Stop Centres are working for the High Risk Groups (HRGs). Over a period of 5/6 years TSACS has increased the number of Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) centres from 5 to 23 and another 9 are approved and would be started soon.
The court was also informed that approval has been granted to 2 FIARTC and 5 Link ART Centres and 2 DISHA, i.e. District Integrated Strategy for HIV/AIDS and DAPCU (District AIDS Prevention & Control Unit) which are working for district level programme implementation as per the NACO guidelines.
The Tripura High Court, January 9, 2025 directed Tripura State AIDS Control Society (TSACS) to file updated statistics on the incidence of HIV/AIDS patients in the state including the youth rate. The court wanted to know whether the steps being taken in the last 4-5 months have led to any improvement in arresting the upward trend of incidence of HIV/AIDS in the state. The resolution of the NCORD (National Narcotics Coordination Portal) and the action taken pursuant thereto should also be brought on record, added the HC. The next hearing of the case is on February 20, 2025.