Ghaziabad, November 19, 2022 (PPI-OT):In what depicts the pathetic condition of prisons in India, at least 140 inmates of Ghaziabad’s Dasna district jail in Uttar Pradesh state have been diagnosed with HIV. As per the government directives, all prisoners are screened for HIV before being lodged in jail.

The inmates at Ghaziabad jail are checked by doctors of the antiretroviral therapy centre located in MMG district government hospital, Superintendent, of district jail, Alok Kumar Singh said. In 2016, the State Aids Control Society organized 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 general health check-ups, compulsory to undergo for all new inmates.

Singh said currently, around 5,500 inmates are lodged in Ghaziabad jail against a capacity of 1,706 inmates. “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 is living in the jail since 2016,” he added.

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