Red Ribbon Express arrives in Bihar

The train comprising three bogies with audio-visual and print material about sensitisation and awareness among people about HIV/AIDS patients and another for awareness about non-communicable diseases, will pass through 17 stations in 16 districts in the state in the the next two months, Health Minister Ashwani Chaube told reporters here.

Bihar AIDS Control Society (BACS) Project Director Sanjeev Kumar Sinha said district magistrates and civil surgeons of district hospitals have been entrusted with making the journey of the Red Ribbon Express a success.

A district-level committee has been formed and four IEC mobile vans would campaign on HIV/AIDS, he said.

Sinha said there were about 50,000 AIDS/HIV patients in Bihar of which 12,000 were being treated at present.

More than treatment, such patients needed to be treated with care and sensitivity by their families, neighbours and society in seeking treatment of the disease without fear of ostracisation, he said.

Sinha said facilities and medicines were available at the Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) centres in the state.

The state government has taken up with the Centre to seek transport allowance for patients in rural areas visiting ART centres, he said.