The Tripura High Court has directed the Tripura State AIDS Control Society (TSACS) to file a progress report on whether steps being taken in the last four-five months have led to an improvement in arresting the upward trend of incidence of HIV/AIDS in the State.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Biswajit Palit sought the report since no statistics on the incidence of HIV/AIDS in the state was available. The bench said the TSACS report should include the resolution of the National Narcotics Coordination Portal (NCORD) and the action taken after it.
Earlier in the hearing, officials of TSACS and National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) said approval has been granted to set up two new Facility-integrated ART Centres (Fi-ARTC) at Khowai and Gomati Districts, as well as one new District Monitoring Unit. TSACS has been directed to seek additional budget approval for operationalizing these sites.
The court was also informed that a NACO team participated in a multi-stakeholder consultation for combating injecting drug use and HIV/AIDS in the state.
Furthermore, the TSACS has established 24 Stand Alone Integrated Counseling & Testing Centres (SA-ICTC) and 133 Facility Integrated Counseling and Testing Centres (F-ICTC) for screening and testing services.
The High Court had taken suo motu cognizance of rising incidence of HIV/AIDS in the state, particularly among youth. The matter has been listed for further hearing on February 20, 2025.