South Central Railway conducted two ‘AIDS Awareness Rallies’ and two "workshops on elimination of HIV infection" as a part of observance of “Worlds Awareness Day” on 1st December, 2011.
The first Rally was flagged off by Shri R. Vijaya Mohan, Addl. General Manager, South Central Railway at Railway Sports Complex. Railway officials, Principals and Teaches of Railway Educational Institutions, Railway Doctors, Volunteers of National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme form Railway Degree College, Railway Junior College, Railway High Schools participated in the rally with placards and vinyl posters to create awareness on AIDS and its prevention. The Rally concluded at Hyderabad Bhavan, the Divisional Office Complex of Hyderabad Division.
Addressing the gathering at the AIDS Awareness programme held at Hyderabad Bhavan, Shri R. Vijaya Mohan, Addl. General Manager, South Central Railway informed that,at present, there were 39 million AIDS patients in the World with an addition of 2.7 million in the last year and 1.8 million people die every year due to AIDS. As far as India is concerned, it is a success story since our Country is able to reduce the new cases of AIDS year after yearwith active cooperation of Mass Media with their dedicated awareness campaigns and Indian will be able to achievethe motto of zero AIDS occurrence by the year 2015. Indian Railways with 14 lakh employees and full fledged medical department is making laudable contributions towards prevention of new AIDS cases, he added. Shri Vijaya Mohan gave away prizes to the winners of the Quiz Competition, Essay Competition and Poster Designing Competition on Prevention of AIDS. He also released a special poster on AIDS prevention.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. S.K. Sharma, Chief Medical Director, South Central Railwaysaid that Medical department of SCR conducts regular checks atwork places and Hospitals to detect new cases of HIV infection. There are 1117 HIV cases among the employees of SCR and Medical Department of SCR strives to achieve zero occurrence of new cases, he added. Addressing the gathering, Dr. S.D. Prasad, Chief Health Director, South Central Railway said that modern medical measures helped to obliterate the panicky situation regarding the spread of HIV virus and established that AIDS is no more a danger to human existence and can be controlled and prevented. There are about 5 lakh HIV / AIDS patients in AP and the new cases registered in AP has declined from 0.79% to 0.50%. While elaborating on preventive measures, Dr. S.D. Prasad said that abstinence, faithfulness to Spouse and condomising are the three effective measures which will go a long way in eradication of HIV and AIDS. Shri Margoob Husain, Divisional Railway Manager, Hyderabad Division, Dr. Swain, Chief Medical Superintendent, Dr. Prasad, Sr. Divisional Medical Officer, Dr. Indira, Principal, Railway Junior College also spoke on the occasion.
The second ‘AIDS Awareness Rally’ was flagged off by Shri Sanjive Roy, Divisional Railway Manager, Secunderabad Division from Secunderabad Station and the same culminated at Railway Health Unit, Chilkalguda, followed by a AIDS Prevention Awareness Programme. Shri Sanjive Roy, Divisional Railway Manager, Dr. Ramana Reddy, Chief Medical Superintendent, Dr.B. Subba Rao, Dr. Buchchi Babu and Dr. Sushma spoke with power point presentation on prevalence of HIV/AIDS, its complications and prevention.