The Hindu
Udupi, Nov 5: Five Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres for HIV/AIDS offering tests and treatment will be opened in five private hospitals in Udupi, district AIDS control officer H. Ashok Kumar said.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre at the Dr. A.V. Baliga Memorial Hospital organised by the hospital and the Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society on Tuesday, Dr. Kumar said that the society would be providing blood test kits through the National AIDS Control Organisation to the hospitals.
Professor Ramachandra Kamath from the Department of Community Medicine, Manipal University, stressed the importance of awareness in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS.
It was possible to check the spread of HIV/AIDS, if youth agreed to undergo voluntary testing for HIV/AIDS before marriage, as was the practice in some countries, Dr. Kamath said.