Not many HIV patients get promised pension

Kozhikode: The state government had promised in 2011 to give Rs 520 a month to all those undergoing Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS, but two years later only a small number of them are receiving the money.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had announced on the eve of World AIDS day in 2011 that a monthly pension of RS 400 would be given to every patient and if they died it would be given to their immediate family. He had promised another Rs 120 to cover their monthly travel expenses to hospitals.

But of the 4,000 HIV positive registered with the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, only 450 received the pension so far and only for three to nine months during the last two years although around 1800 are undergoing ART in the region.

“The pension distributed through the Kerala State AIDS Control Society (KSACS) is credited into the patients’ bank accounts. This is stopping many from applying for it as they fear their HIV/AIDS status will then be revealed and expose them to social prejudice,” says P Purushothaman, an out-reach worker of VIHAAN CSC, working for the HIV positive under the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).