The Ganjam district administration in Odisha has decided to counsel Surat-bound migrant workers in trains on prevention of HIV AIDS as they are considered potential carriers of the virus.
Around seven lakh people from the district work in textile mills and diamond-cutting factories in Surat and Ahmedabad, said a survey.
Official sources said today at least one counsellor will go with the workers to Surat and will educate the workers on preventing HIV AIDS during the 36-hour journey.
The arrangement will reduce the ever-increasing HIV positive cases in the district. At present they constitute around 38 per cent of total HIV cases in the state, Ganjam district collector Krishan Kumar said.
As many as 10,948 people tested HIV positive in the district by June. AIDS has so far killed 968 people in the district, the sources said.
Names of migrant workers would be registered in their respective panchayats so that the administration can track them. Anganwadi workers will collect the migrant workers' data, which will be compiled at the panchayat office, a senior government officer said.
Integrated health camps would also be held for HIV-positive persons in each of the 16 identified blocks every three months.
The camps would screen people for other diseases as well and facilitate select medical investigations.
Besides, a mobile health unit dedicated for AIDS control will travel across the district at least three weeks a month to create awareness among people, said chief district medical officer P K Kar.
