Following an acute shortage of HIV test kit 1 and Whole Blood Finger Prick test kit (HIV test kit 4) in the State, testing has almost come to a standstill in the government-run Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC) in several districts. A few centres that have the test kits are testing only emergency and high-risk cases for the last one month.
The State has 470 stand-alone ICTCs and 2,940 functional ICTCs. Counsellors and staff at these ICTCs confirmed to The Hindu that they had to face the wrath of patients for sending them back without testing. As of Wednesday, limited stocks of the test kits were reported from Bagalkot, Dakshina Kannada, Chikmagaluru, Vijayapura, Hubbali-Dharwad, Ramanagara, Yadgir and Koppal districts.
“We are just collecting the serum samples and asking the patients to come back for the reports. Many patients are upset and shout at us. Also, there are chances of them not coming back for the reports and it is difficult for us to trace them if they are tested positive,” said a counsellor from Ramanagara.
