Now CD4 test, which counts the number of white blood cells (WBC) that fights the infection, can be conducted where the victim resides. Until now, the patients in Madi had no options but to travel 50 km for the treatment in Bharatpur Hospital.[break]
Total of 801 HIV patients from Nawalparasi, Gorkha, Makawanpur and Chitwan districts are registered in Bharatpur Hospital. Among them 350 patients come to the hospital for CD4 test regularly.
"Treatment on the HIV patients is taken forward after measuring their CD4 count. The increase in the number also determines the level of improvement in their health," said Dr Jagannath Tiwari, Physician at Bharatpur Hospital.
A normal person´s CD4 count exceeds 1500. If the patients are found with CD4 count lower than 350, doctors prescribe ARV (Anti Retro Viral) treatment.
"These new CD4 machines are light and smaller than our old ones which enable us to carry them to the patients," Ram Hari Neupane, Coordinator of Chitwan District AIDS Coordination Organization.
According to Neupane, 35 HIV patients are going through ARV treatment in four VDC of Madi.
"Now they don´t have to trouble themselves by coming to the hospital. In two months our team will reach them with these new machines," said Neupane. "With this machine we will be able to treat patients living outside Madi area as well," he added.
The hospital had received the machine from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF).
According to Nur Prasad Panta Manager of AHF in Nepal, the foundation had donated two CD4 machines, one each for hospitals in Kailali and Chitwan districts. "These new CD4 machines are not only portable but they also come with advance technologies," said Panta.
"Unlike our old machines, these portable ones can indicate the count of white blood cells in both number and percentage," Panta added.
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