Kerala has become the first state in the country to supply free antiretroviral drugs to AIDS patients.
"We are proud of this achievement because no other state has this programme. We began this supply last month through the five government medical colleges," said Health Secretary E.K. Bharat Bhusan.
He was speaking at a seminar here on the eve of World Aids Day Wednesday.
"We are yet to get the figures of the actual number of HIV patients who have started taking the antiretroviral drugs. We are soon going to begin supply of the drugs at all the 14 district hospitals," said T.V. Velayudhan, the deputy director of the state's AIDS control programme.
There are 2,003 cases of AIDS in Kerala while 613 people have died of the disease. The state has close to 100,000 HIV patients.
Secretary Bhushan pointed out that while Kerala was classified as a low AIDS prevalence state, its neighbours Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were in the high prevalence category.
--Indo-Asian News Service