US official to visit TN Hospital treating HIV/AIDS patients

Chennai, Jan 5 (UNI) US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael O Leavitt will visit the Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine (GHTM) at Tambaram, which provides care and treatment for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis patients.

A release from the US Consulate here yesterday said Mr Leavitt planned to visit Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochin and New Delhi, visiting sites producing food and medicine for export to the US.

He would also visit healthcare facilities delivering polio vaccine and providing care and treatment for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis patients and meet senior officials, business leaders in the export community and university students and faculty.

In the city on January 7, Mr Leavitt would visit the GHTM and Red Ribbon Club: HIV/AIDS Peer Education Prevention Site at Loyola College, the release added.

The GHTM at Tambaram Sanatorium annually treats more than 30,000 people, living with HIV, from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other States.

According to the National AIDS Control Programme Phase III, ten additional hospitals would be identified over the next five years and developed into centres of excellence using the Tambaram GHTM model.

UNI WS GM GT GC0939