PUNE: Operations like antenatal care for HIV+ women, counselling and identification for potential HIV+ patients are suffering the most as the indefinite deadlock between the authorities and the technicians and counsellors of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) and Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC) continues.

Rupesh Bhalerao, secretary, Maharashtra State AIDS Control Employees Union, said, “Follow-up of newborn babies is an essential function which ARTs dispense. One follow-up is done immediately after their birth where mothers are counselled and one is done after 18 months of child birth. None of the follow-ups has been carried out now which increases the risk of babies getting affected.”

Registration of newborns has also not been taking place due to the strike, added Bhalerao.

Sandesh Thorat, chairman of the Pune district committee of the same organisation, said, “Counselling, which is mandatory for all HIV positive patients, has affected. Testing of new patients is also not being done. Hospitals have been calling us up to know how much dose of Nevirapine (medicine given to expectant HIV positive mother and newborn child) as most of them don’t know what to do as they not trained for it.”

There are 700 ICTC centres across Maharashtra and 44 in Pune district. “Almost every day, we have 8 to 10 people coming to visit ART centres and in a month around 600 people test positive,” he said.

The AIDS control staff have been on a nationwide strike since December 1 demanding permanent jobs, minimum salary as per the recommendations of sixth pay commission and other facilities like group accidental insurance, medi-claim and provident fund.