140 inmates of jail in Uttar Pradesh test HIV postive

Ghaziabad/UP: In Ghaziabad's Dasna district jail, 140 inmates tested positive to HIV, PTI reported citing a senior official account on Friday.

According to the district jail superintendent, Alok Kumar Singh, the inmates at Ghaziabad Jail are checked by doctors of the Antiretroviral therapy centre located in MMG district government hospital.

While the jail could accommodate 1,706 inmates, it now houses 5,500.

The government's directives mandate that all prisoners must be screened for HIV before being lodged in jail.

"Out of 5,500 inmates, 140 are HIV positive, and 35 of them also have TB. An average of 120 to 150 HIV-positive inmates have been living in the jail since 2016," Singh said.

In 2016, the State Aids Control Society organised HIV screening camps in jails. At that time, 49 prisoners were found to have been infected with HIV in the Ghaziabad jail.

After that, the government made HIV and TB tests a part of a general health check-up, compulsory to undergo for all new inmates. If an inmate is diagnosed with HIV, he or she is provided ARV treatment at the Integrated Counselling and Treatment Centre (ICTC) located inside the jail.