Cabinet approves proposal for enhancing financial assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS

The Cabinet today approved a proposal for enhancing the amount of assistance to the people living with HIV/AIDS in the national capital.

The monetary assistance given to people and children living with HIV/AIDS on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) have been increased from the existing Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000, while for orphans infected with the disease was enhanced from Rs 2,050 to Rs 4,100.

The assistance for destitute children suffering from HIV/AIDS in institutional care was increased to Rs 4,100 from Rs 2,050 while the financial assistance for orphan children affected by the disease has been increased from Rs 1,750 to Rs 3,500.

The Cabinet also approved the Social Welfare Department's proposal for removing the age restriction on financial assistance to individuals with special needs, which means the pension, as per the quantum in existence at the time, will be continued lifelong or until the conditions under which the assistance was granted no longer exists.

However, the beneficiary will not be eligible for pension under more than one scheme among the three schemes for the old age, persons with disability and pension to women in distress, an official statement said.

Currently, 27,250 (by the end of March this year) People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) are on anti-retroviral treatment in Delhi at the 11 ART centres located in major government hospitals in the national capital, run under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP).

Of these registered patients, there are 81 double orphans (29 infected with HIV/AIDS, 29 infected destitute, 23 double orphan children, who are not infected by HIV but have been affected by HIV due to death of their parents, who were HIV infected).

The Department of Social Welfare implements Financial Assistance to the Persons with Special Needs Scheme, under which financial assistance is given to persons with disability in the age group from birth to 60 years, and having annual family income not more than Rs 1,00,000 per annum.

The scheme is applicable to persons with blindness, low vision, locomotor disability, hearing impaired, leprosy cured, cerebral palsy, autism, mental retardation and mental illness.