May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

KARACHI, April 30: The teenaged Indian fisherman, who was diagnosed with Aids in the central prison here and was flown to India on Wednesday, will need appropriate medical care to halt the progression of the deadly disease he is suffering from, say local doctors.

Doctors associated with the Sindh Aids Control Programme (SACP) claimed on Wednesday that they had been in the process of selecting a right therapy regime for Aids-positive Bhagan of Gujarat to enhance both the quality of his life and longevity, but could not do so because of short time before his repatriation to India.

Doctors say they hope he will receive necessary treatment at his home state in India as was promised by Indian high commission’s representatives here earlier.

After counselling and readiness for screening against the deadly disease, a CD4 count was done and around 79 white blood cells/mm3 were found in 17-year-old Bhagan, but the ART could not be recommended immediately as the patient told the doctors concerned that he had been treated for TB as well in India, said Dr Qamar Abbas, deputy programme manager of SACP.

He said SACP doctors had decided to conduct more tests to know the status of TB in the patient as it could be useless to try a regime unless they were in the complete picture. In patients with CD4 counts below 200, ART is delayed for a few weeks after starting TB treatment, when it is clear that TB treatment is tolerated and symptoms are improving before starting ART, Dr Abbas said in reply to a question.Besides the 17-year-old fisherman from India, there are 22 inmates, including a foreign woman with critical CD4 count, who have been tested positive for Aids and are being attended by SACP doctors and an NGO working against Aids and STI diseases in the jail inmates.

Dr Abbas said that two of the inmates of the Karachi central prison were being provided with ART, while baseline data were being prepared in the case of six other inmates of Landhi Jail and Hyderabad jail for ART purposes.

The foreign woman, whose documents are being prepared for repatriation to her country, could not be given ART despite a very low CD4 count, as she is not willing to undergo the therapy, he added.

In the case of the repatriated Indian fisherman, it was further learnt that doctors of the NGO working in jails of the province for counselling and services to the suspected HIV/Aids patients had already handed over complete insight and profile of the patient to Indian high commission people for proper follow-ups.

In recent days, Mr Bhagan, who was admitted for some time to the Civil Hospital Karachi as well, was in a good health condition, said a source in the jail, and added that the young man had been cooperating with the doctors and others attending on him.