Chennai: Tamil Nadu health minister M Subramanian has said in the Legislative Assembly that steps will be taken to provide monthly allowance to HIV-infected children.
He also listed various schemes being implemented by the government for HIV-infected people. Social activists say that such allowance will be of great help to children, who have been infected with HIV without doing any wrong and are facing various mental and physical difficulties.
The Legislative Assembly met on Tuesday after the budget session vacation. During the Question Hour, AIADMK MLA Krishna Murali (Kadayanallur Constituency) raised a question as to whether the government will give the finance assistance for HIV infected people.
Responding to this, the minister said, "The number of HIV-infected patients in Tamil Nadu is 1,57,908. As many as 76 cooperative treatment centers are currently functioning in Tamil Nadu to provide free treatment to them."
There are 1,41,341 people under medical treatment. As per the Chief Minister's insistence, cooperative medical treatment centers have also been expanded. In Tirunelvel and Tenkasi districts, a total of 4,596 HIV-infected people are benefiting from cooperative medical treatment under the Department of Health and Public Welfare, at ART Centres.
In 2009, former Chief Minister Karunanidhi launched a trust fund for HIV-infected children by giving Rs 5 crore as a deposit. That fund has now increased to Rs 25 crore. Out of this fund, Rs 1,890000 has been spent on 7,618 HIV-infected children under the age of 18 in 2024-25 alone.
In this context, the Tamil Nadu government has also decided to provide monthly assistance to HIV-infected children in the future. Subramanian said the action in this regard will be implemented soon.
Earlier, regarding the security schemes provided by the Social Welfare Department, he said that the schemes are being implemented by increasing the assistance amount for the elderly from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 1200, the assistance amount for the differently abled from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 1500, and Rs. 2,000 for differently abled people with 75% disability.
