14 inmates found HIV positive in Kanpur jail

In a shocking revelation, 14 jail inmates in Kanpur district jail have been found to be HIV positive. The tests, conducted during a recent annual medical camp organised by the National AIDS Control Organisation, gave out these results. One of the HIV affected inmates is a woman. According to a jail official, routine HIV checks are held for all inmates, including convicts and undertrials. This year, the camp was held earlier this month in which all 2,518 inmates underwent the tests. “We have called in a counsellor to counsel the HIV positive inmates and he will explain to them how to keep their condition under control and what precautions are to be taken,” jail superintendent Vipin Misra said. These inmates have also been asked to get their partners and children tested for HIV virus as well, so their treatment could begin with immediate effect, if they were also found to be infected with the virus.

The HIV positive inmates include both convicts and undertrials, and it is difficult to say since when they have een carrying the virus. The routine medical test that is conducted when any inmate is brought into the jail does not include a test for HIV.

Meanwhile, a senior official in the jail department in Lucknow said that after the test results in Kanpur, efforts will be made to conduct similar camps in all jails in the state so that HIV patients, if any, can be given proper treatment at the earliest.