SHORTAGE OF HIV TEST KIT PUTS BABIES AT RISK

Forpast 4 months, city's ART centre has not given dried blood spot kits to HIV+mothers so they can check if their infant has contracted disease; earlydetection increases chances of a baby's survival, say doctors

S umita, an HIVp o s i t i v e patient from Ahmedabad, delivered a baby boy four months ago. As if handling a newborn in her weakened condition is not taxing enough, the 20-year-old ­ who lives on the outskirts of the city -has to frequently travel 35 km to the anti retroviral therapy centre at Civil Hospital to ensure her baby undergoes blood tests that detect HIV infection.

Her repeated trips could have been easily avoided if the centre had given her free dried blood spot (DBS) kits so she could easily perform the tests at home and mail it to the lab for testing.