Hyderabad: Funds from the Central treasury to the Telangana AIDS Control Society are dwindling, making it extremely difficult to carry out the programme of awareness, distribution of condoms and drugs and also collate the number of new cases at the ground level, said officers on the eve of World AIDS Day which is being observed on December 1.
A health officer of the TACS said, “The central budget of National AIDS Control Organisation was Rs 115 crore which has been slashed to Rs 93 crore. The 20 per cent cut has proved costly to the programme as the worst-hit are the ground workers.”
Earlier, the amount was sanctioned by NACO twice in a year and the programmes were carried out smoothly. But now NACO has given the money to the state government which is yet to release the funds.
A senior officer said, “The state government takes at least two to three months to release the funds. By then salaries of employees, non-government organisation and awareness activity is affected. The worst-hit is procurement of drugs and condoms. For now, we have stocks but if the amount is not sanctioned soon, December will see a crisis of condoms.”
The TACS has borrowed Rs 4 crore to overcome the crisis of non-payment to NGOs. The NGOs are responsible for connecting the HIV infected patients to the centres and guiding them in treatment aspects. Their de-linking would affect the programme badly and a short-gap arrangement has been done for now.
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