The Maharashtra government has signed up with a number of voluntary organisations to train healthcare professionals in treating AIDS patients at home.

Health officials here said that more than 100 people, including nurses and paramedical workers, have been trained in the past two years to provide AIDS patients medical care at their homes.

The expertise gained by the authorities in Maharashtra may help formulate standards for home-based care of AIDS patients, officials here feel.

The protocols or procedures to be followed by home-based HIV/Aids patients, his family and caregivers like doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, counsellors and lab-technicians have already been prepared.

The protocols lay down specifications like diet, counselling and treatment of ailments contracted by HIV/Aids patients.

Also spelt out are precautionary measures to be taken by caregivers. Much of these have been obtained from international bodies and reworked to suit local requirements.

Health officials say HIV/AIDS patients suffer from the stigma of their infection. Either they are abandoned by their relatives or are confined to a room in the house with no medical attention. The guidelines aim to remove the fear of infection.

The government is now targeting primary health centres in the state and the medical personnel employed there. Officials say employees of primary healthcare centres should be able to administer emergency treatment to patients.

According to official reports, the estimated number of HIV infected people in Maharashtra is estimated at around 750,000, or about 19 percent of the estimated 3.9 million HIV infected people in the country.

--Indo-Asian News Service