'HIV counselling, test centres in Delhi lack privacy'

Privacy of patients who go for HIV testing and counselling in the national capital's government hospitals remains a prime concern as many of them don't have separate counselling rooms for males and females, a study has found.

The study, titled "Integrated Counselling and HIV Testing Centres of Delhi: An Evaluation", by Dr Anita Khokhar, Director Professor, Community Medicine, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, along with Dr Vinoth Gnana Chellaiyan of the Department of Community Medicine at Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Kelambakkam, Chennai, revealed that a majority of the Integrated Counseling and HIV Testing Centres (ICTCs) in the national capital lacked separate rooms for male-female counselling and nor was there adequate space inside the allocated room.

According to the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), 93 medical facilities under the Centre and the state governments in Delhi have ICTCs. Eleven medical facilities provide Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART). These include AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, Lok Nayak Hospital, RML Hospital and GTB Hospital, among others. Read Complete Article