Goa which admittedly has as much as 1% of its population infected with the HIV virus is considering bringing the State’s population as ‘Below Povery line’ to help them avail Government schemes.
Health Minister laxmikant Parsekar said that the step will make them get the facilities easily. “Bringing the HIV+ve population under BPl (below poverty line) could be a good step, because it could help them get all the facilities easily. We could discuss this with the CM (Chief Minister) and my colleagues,” Parsekar said.
Parsenkar also said that since 2009, fresh detection of HIV cases have been on a downswing, with 523 fresh HIV cases detected last year.Those covered under the BPl have relatively easy and cheap or free access to basic essentials, which includes food, health facilities, transport, etc.
“Around 14,000 living HIV infected persons are still there (in Goa),” the Health Minister said, adding that the Government was aiming at bringing down the rate of infection to zero over the next five years. For a population hovering around 14-15 lakh the figure makes it one lakh. Principal secretary (Health) Parimal Rai said that nearly one per cent of Goa’s population was infected and that Goa’s tourism-prone coastal areas were more vulnerable to the disease.
“The areas in Goa which are most vulnerable are the coastal areas as per our statistics,” Rai said. The AIDS virus was first detected in Goa in a foreign tourist, in the 80s who is believed to have brought it to the State.