NAGPUR, Dec 16: Health minister Dr Daulatrao Aher, who was grilled in the Legislative Assembly for failure of the Health Department in effective implementation of the AIDS awareness drive, told the House that there has been an alarming 800 per cent rise in HIV positive cases in the State in a short span.The State has the dubious distinction of topping the HIV infected and AIDS affected patients. Moreover, the rate at which the number of patients with HIV positive blood is growing, is alarming. It is a clear indication of the failure of the State Government, members alleged even as the Minister tried to defend his department saying that it is a global phenomenon.The issue was raised by Anees Ahmed (Cong) and several others through a call-attention notice. They expressed concern over the steep rise in number of HIV positive cases detected in Nagpur city and elsewhere in the State. In reply, the minister informed the Assembly that a survey conducted last month revealed eight AIDS cases in Nagpur city. A surveillance centre detected 106 cases in 1996 and 166 this year. It is feared that all of them will develop into full grown AIDS cases in another eight to ten years.Members demanded that blood tests should be conducted on a mass scale so as to detect the patients. The existing system of sample survey does not give a true picture. They also wanted to know about the financial and technical assistance from the Central Government and World Health Organisation (WHO).Those raising supplementaries included Dr Madhavrao Kinhalkar and Prabha Rau (Cong), Sohail Lokhandwala and Nawab Malik (SP) and Kirit Somaiya (BJP).In reply, Dr Aher said he also favoured a mass blood testing drive. Pointing out that he had raised the demand at a meeting of state ministers, he said demand was turned down by the Central government and WHO .
