‘Drugs injection resulting in rise in HIV cases in Assam’

GUWAHATI: Injection of drugs has been determined as the main cause for rise in HIV infections in the Northeast state of Assam.

This was stated by Assam health minister Keshab Mahanta on Friday (February 09) while speaking at the state’s assembly.

Assam health minister Keshab Mahanta said that there has been a steep rise in cases of HIV infections in the state in recent times.

However, the Assam minister asserted that the state government, with assistance from NGOs, has been working with HIV-positive persons.

Assam health minister Keshab Mahanta made this statement while responding to a query raised by Congress MLA Sibamoni Bora.

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Assam Congress MLA Sibamoni Bora claimed that there has been a spike in fresh HIV infections in the state recently.

She claimed that around 50 per cent of the drug peddlers are themselves infected.

In response, the Assam health minister said that 31,729 HIV-AIDS cases were detected in the state from 89,84,519 tests conducted between 2002 and 2023.

“In 2023, till December, 9,90,372 tests were conducted, of which 5,791 were found positive. Yes, there has been an increase and we are working to check it,” he added.