Punjab AIDS Control Programme (PACP) Director Dr Salman Shahid, while addressing a meeting on Thursday, stressed upon the need to control the spread of HIV in prisons.
Dr Shahid said that there was a high risk of transmission of HIV and other diseases in prisons and the prison staff also shares this high-risk environment with the inmates. While the prison staff is in contact with the community, the prisoners also return to the society after completing their sentences. Therefore, steps taken to protect prisoners and staff from contracting infections would ultimately have an impact on the health of the general public, he said. “In order to reassess the current HIV situation in the jails of Punjab and to ensure provision of services, the PACP decided to conduct a screening of all the jail inmates at risk and the staff of prisons in Punjab,” he said. He further said that the PACP has conducted capacity-building trainings of 11 medical officers and 32 technicians working in different jails of the Punjab. The trainings were conducted with the support of the IG Prisons Punjab office. Later on, PACP provided 60,000 HIV Rapid Determine Test Kits worth Rs 7.2 million for screening of jail inmates and staff of all jails in Punjab. He said the Voluntary Confidential Counseling and Testing Centers and Surveillance Centers established by the program at different tertiary care and district hospitals were working in close collaboration with the prisons located within the respective jail regions. He further informed that the Punjab AIDS Control Program is implementing the whole process in a phased manner. The initial screening is being done at the jails and is followed by confirmation of HIV status by further two antibody tests, including ELISA test at the VCT and Surveillance Centres of PACP. Only those inmates that are reactive on all three tests will be considered as HIV Positive.
