of India, New Delhi edition of 3rd January 2007
NEW DELHI: The CD-4 count test — used to gauge immunity levels of an
HIV-infected patient and to assess whether damage caused by the virus
requires life-saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) — is now free for all
AIDS patients.
The order making the CD-4 test free, aimed at encouraging early testing for
HIV/AIDS in India and a consequent reduction in mortality, was passed by the
National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) on Tuesday.
Until now, each test, conducted twice a year on every HIV patient, cost Rs
250. The test was free only for HIV-infected children and patients below the
poverty line.
Confirming this to TOI, Naco's ART consultant B B Rewari said government's
101 ART centres will be notified of this decision soon. "Till October 26,
2006, each test cost Rs 500. Then we slashed the price by half. AIDS
activists have been demanding a total waiver. The order was signed on
Tuesday to make the test free for every HIV infected person in India,"
Rewari said.
Naco director general K Sujatha Rao told TOI that India is stepping up its
prevention programme and hoping to reduce mortality due to AIDS. At present,
India has 58 CD-4 count machines. Over 38 more are being procured.
"Blood samples of HIV patients are taken at ART centres where the test can't
be carried out and are processed in 58 centres which have the CD-4 count
machine," Rewari added.
The test, which predicts risk of future infections, is presently offered
free to 52,000 patients already on ART in India where an estimated
5.2million people are infected with HIV. The CD-4 count is used in
combination
with the viral load test which measures level of HIV in blood. The test is
ordered when a person is first diagnosed with HIV as part of a baseline
measurement. Tests are repeated every six months.
The CD-4 count in healthy adults ranges from 500 to 1,500 cells per cubic
millimetre of blood. In HIV infected people, it goes down by 60 cells per
cubic millimetre of blood per year as HIV progresses. ART is administered
when an HIV-positive person registers a CD-4 count under 200.
