Three medical colleges in Rajasthan will soon have machines to test HIV/AIDS patients for viral load. Besides RNT Medical college, Udaipur, this facility will be available in government colleges in Jaipur and Jodhpur.

It may be noted that Union ministry of health and family welfare had launched a ‘Viral load testing for all people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV)’ initiative on Feb 26 this year under which samples were collected at ART centres and sent to Mumbai for testing. Before this, patients in Rajasthan had to go to either Ahmedabad or Delhi for the tests.

The Viral Load testing machine will be provided by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO). Each machine costs around Rs 90 Lakhs. Machine installation has already started and will be up and running from next month.

Viral load helps to assess amount of HIV in blood. This is useful for monitoring effectiveness of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART).