Centre of excellence lacks funds to upgrade

BANGALORE: The Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) centre at Lady Curzon and Bowring Hospital, which  is providing the first line medicines for people affected with human immuno deficiency (HIV), was accorded with the centre of excellence status by the National AIDS Control Orgnisation (NACO) a few years back. However, the only ART centre in the state to provide second line medicines for HIV patients, is yet to have its own premises. With the ART centre being situated at a congested portion of the Bowring Hospital, the authorities had decided to construct a six-storey building to carry out the research work. Reportedly, the Central government had sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the Centre of Excellence in 2008. The Bowring Hospital had also earmarked 100 x 100 ft land for the construction of the new premises. However, the construction work is yet to commence due to lack of funds. “We have requested the government to sanction funds for the construction of the new building. The amount sanctioned by the Central Government (`30 lakh for the construction work and `70 lakh for other purposes) was not adequate even to  complete the foundation work,” said Satishchandra, medical superintendent of Lady Curzon and Bowring Hospital.With the Centre of Excellence status, the ART centre was authorised to distribute second-line drugs that  were available in other state  capitals.Salma K Fahim, project director, Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS) said  that efforts were being made to convince the respective departments to allocate funds for the construction of the new building. “We have utilised `12 lakh to renovate Centre of Excellence at cellar of Bowring Hospital. The remaining `18 lakh has not been utilised. We are waiting for the state government to allocate funds,” said Salma.Meanwhile, Dr E V Ramana Reddy, secretary, Health Department, said that his department was ready to share the construction cost with the department of medical education. “The Lady Curzon and Bowring Hospital come under the jurisdiction of Medical Education. I am also aware of the meetings held to discuss the construction of new building for Centre of Excellence. As far as ART centre is concerned, our department is ready to bear the cost of building,” said Reddy.However, K H Gopala Krishna Gowda, secretary, Medical Education, has made it clear that there was no provision to allocate funds during this year. “We too want to allocate funds for the building but not this year. We will definitely consider the proposal next year,” said Gowda.