The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), which is working under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has asked for more time for making second line universally available free of cost to all the non-metros. They have asked time till March this year.

This is despite the fact that a Supreme Court order has asked that HIV/AIDS patients should be given the necessary treatment at the anti-retroviral therapy (ART) centres in India.

All the patients of AIDS who develop immunity towards first-line treatment need the second-line medications for survival. In private market it costs somewhere between Rs. 4,000-8,000 per month and that is why many patients are not able to use it.

To make it accessible, the government started distributing the treatment in 10 ART centres. Some 1,516 patients used the services.

While no clear data about the same is available, experts are of the view that 3-4 per cent of total HIV hit population is in need for this kind of treatment. There are close to 2.27 million HIV patients in India and that makes it even more important that second-line treatment is made accessible.