Puducherry: The Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) may soon have faculties in almost all the specialized courses offered by them.

K.S.V.K. Subba Rao, Director of JIPMER addressed the valedictory session of a Continuing Medical Education (CME) programme on HIV/AIDS Issues in Clinical Practice, organized by the Department of Microbiology and HIV Cell of JIPMER and Pondicherry AIDS Control Society (PACS) on March 17.

"Around 40 assistant professors have enrolled in a one-week course in almost all the specialities comprising general as well as super specialities viz. cardiology, neurosurgery, cardio surgery, surgical gastroenterology and oncology," avers Rao.

"The institute has got excellent infrastructure and very soon we will have expert faculty in almost all specialties. There is an increase in the number of people to join us and it is becoming the most sought-after institution for teaching and learning activities apart from patient care and research," he added.

As medical practitioners, we should take an oath that we should create awareness among people of the HIV/AIDS syndrome and make sure that misconceptions are cleared. We should come forward to look after the patients and if we don't, then we cannot even imagine the plight of society, he said.

Hence, this should be our main area of concern and we should be prepared with knowledge, spread it, put it into practical use and make requisite efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. We will be organizing several programmes in subjects such as medical education, scientific programmes and annual conferences, he added.

In addition, certificates were conferred to resident doctors of various medical institutes in Puducherry, who participated in the CME programme.

"There are about 40 million people living with HIV and some are having symptoms of AIDS. The annual death rate of people dying with AIDS across the world is three lakh. . There are many misconceptions regarding HIV/AIDS patients. It is vital to know and dispel all misconceptions of HIV/AIDS patients," said Dean of JIPMER K.S. Reddy.

Any college that wanted to start a programme on HIV/AIDS could approach the PACS for support, Project director of PACS Gilbert Fernandez said.

"The Department of Microbiology and HIV cell of JIPMER, along with PACS, is making all efforts to strengthen and improve the facilities for lab diagnosis and initiating Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) services," said S.C. Parija, Head of the Department of Microbiology, JIPMER.

The department had received two equipments, flow cytometer for CD4 count and real time PCR for determining HIV genome. These equipments are important for investigation and will improve facilities for improved diagnosis of HIV, he added.