| Tuesday, August 18, 2009 |
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Soon, orphans in state to get ‘home and mother’
By Nireesh @ 1:07 PM :: 109 Views ::
0 Comments ::  :: Asia
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The project, which was started a year ago by GSACS, will be finally approved in this year’s state Budget, while it awaits administrative approval.
GSACS has proposed for a budget of Rs 60 lakh for the project. Two orphanages with 50-bed capacity each will be set up at Surat and Gandhinagar. “This will be initially done on a pilot basis which will later be extended. Both affected and infected children will be housed together and complete care of their education, treatment and other necessities will be taken of. We have already received a lot of support from the diamond workers association in Surat (for the project), and expect to get the administrative approval in the next two months,” said Kumar.
According to the details available, there are over 3,000 children of HIV positive parents of which over 250 are orphans and at least 1,613 have lost one parent.
Dr Pradeep Kumar, Additional Project Director, GSACS said: “Children of HIV positive patients have always been an alarming issue for us. While not many infected children receive proper medication, those affected by HIV due to loss of parents are often socially stigmatised or are ill-treated by their relatives.”
Besides, GSACS has also decided to have one HIV positive widow to take care of five orphans in the orphanages. “This way we will have 10 widows per orphanage. The mental and emotional state of the children can be best understood by HIV positive people. For a childless widow, taking care of children will not just help her financially, but also emotionally,” said Kumar.
Though the major attention will be for orphans till the age of 17, GSACS is also chalking out plans for orphaned children beyond the age of 17.
In a workshop conducted last year for orphaned children and their relatives, it was found that most relatives did not regularly take the children to the Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) centres.
“In a survey done by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), the number of children taking ART was found to be very less in the state. But, in the past one-year, the number has increased from 380 to 540. With these orphanages coming up, we intent to get almost all children to take up the therapy,” said Kumar.
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