-Non existent healthcare facilities in Jalpaiguri-

The Statesman
JALPAIGURI, West Bengal, India
 
The State Legislative
Assembly’s health standing committee has expressed dissatisfaction
today over the dismal heath service of the Jalpaiguri Sadar Hospital.


After visiting the hospital today, Mrs. Tapati Saha, the chairman of
the committee said that the service seemed to have broken down in spite
of several lakhs of rupees having been sanctioned for the
infrastructure development for the district hospital. “We are wondering
how the sanctioned amount has been spent. No initiative to improve the
health infrastructure is in sight. There is no burn unit. Besides, the
condition of the other wards in the hospital is very bad. The seem not
to care and indifferent to the multitude of patients coming from far
and near for treatment,” she said adding that the team would submit a
special report on the fast worsening condition in the hospital on the
floor of the Assembly in the coming session.


The chairman also expressed concern over the plight of the HIV positive
patients of the district. “The doctors are not following the special
counseling programme for the HIV patients as ordered by the state
government.” Mrs. Saha said. '


Commenting on the charge the medical superintendent of the Jalpaiguri
Sadar Hospital, Mr.Suresh Chandra Bhoumick, said that the separate burn
unit proposal was yet to be sanctioned by the state government.
“Besides, we are under staffed. The special counseling program for the
HIV positive patients would start soon in our district,” he said.

- Preventing Mother-to-Child transmission of HIV-

Guidelines Address HIV Testing, Prophylaxis to Mother-to-Child Transmission

Below I am quoting some of the guidelines for dealing with Pregnancy in High HIV risk pregnancies, during and after labour.
You can view all the guidelines here

• When the mother's HIV serostatus is unknown, the newborn infant's healthcare professional should order rapid HIV antibody testing for the mother or the newborn, with appropriate consent as required by state or local law.
• To facilitate appropriate care and testing of the newborn infant, maternal HIV serostatus should promptly be disclosed to the healthcare professional for that infant.
• When results of HIV rapid antibody test are positive, the mother and newborn infant should receive antiretroviral prophylaxis without waiting for results of confirmatory HIV testing.
• Although women with positive results of HIV rapid antibody test should not breast-feed, they should be offered assistance with immediate initiation of hand and pump expression to stimulate milk production, in the event that confirmatory test results may be negative. If this proves to be the case, prophylaxis should be stopped and breast-feeding may be started.
• All facilities with an obstetric unit and/or newborn nursery of any level should have rapid HIV antibody testing available on a 24-hour basis.
• Infant medical records should document maternal HIV-infection status, and this documentation should be a standard measure of the adequacy of hospital care for the mother and infant.
• Although prophylaxis is most effective within 12 hours of birth, it may still be effective when started as late as 48 hours of life.
• Before hospital discharge, the full 6-week course of infant antiretroviral prophylaxis should be arranged and the family should be carefully instructed regarding administration. All third-party payers should pay for the prophylaxis.
• Infants should not breast-feed if either the mother or the infant has a positive test result for HIV antibody.
• The newborn infant should be tested for HIV antibody, preferably within the first 12 hours of life, in the absence of parental availability for consent. State and local jurisdictions should develop policies to ensure rapid assessment and testing of the infant.
• To guide appropriate care and follow-up testing if indicated, infants of unknown HIV exposure status at the first health supervision visit should undergo HIV antibody testing with appropriate consent.
• Specialists in obstetric and pediatric HIV infection should be consulted regarding care of the mother, fetus, newborn, and child with perinatal exposure to HIV.