Pokhara, May 30: Western Regional Hospital, Pokhara, has said 64 HIV/AIDS patients have died while undergoing treatment in the hospital so far.
The hospital also said 900 HIV-infected patients are undergoing treatment in the hospital at present.
Dr Basanta Tamrakar revealed the information during a two-day training organized by Naya Goreto, Kathmandu, on HIV/AIDS for journalists.
The hospital provided blood test, cough test, X-ray, medicines and other free services to HIV-infected patients. The hospital said HIV-infected patients have lived normal life even up to 14 years if they follow a disciplined life, visited the hospital for test every month and used medicines regularly.
Dr Damrakar said, among the patients tested HIV positive in the hospital were 152 who had returned from work in India.
Dr Tamrakar said AIDS is the last phase of HIV infection when patients lose their natural capacity to resist diseases and one cannot survive more than three years once he or she reaches AIDS phase.
A total of 25 journalists affiliated with various local print and electronic media took part in the training.
Meanwhile, the Central Child Welfare Board has been providing counseling services to 25 street children picked up from the Thamel area in pursuance of the government’s programme of rehabilitating the street children.
Monitoring officer at the Board, Umakanta Chauhan said the street children picked up from Thamel area have been kept at the ‘Drop in’ centre of CWIN, an NGO working for child welfare, where they are being counseled.
Under the first phase, the Board plans to pick up 100 street children from different places and provide them with counseling services to improve their conduct.
The programme was initiated from this Fiscal Year and it is learnt the programme would be given continuity.
The trend of street children falling into the trap of drug abuse and anti-social bahaviour has increased. This causes negative impact on the family and the society.
According to a statistics, some 600 children annually come to Kathmandu from other districts and they end up in the streets.
 Meanwhile in Lalitpur, Central Child Welfare Committee, Pulchowk is set to launch regular monitoring in all child care centers across the nation to find out their true picture, said committee’s Acting Director Dharma Raj Shrestha. Earlier, the committee had been monitoring the centers once a year.
The Child Care Monitoring team formed in the central-level has the authority to monitor any center of any location at any doubt, Shrestha added.
During the monitoring, conducted last year, 30 per cent centers were found operating against the legal provision as out of 451 centers, 132 were not registered.
The committee has informed that any center, being operated illegally, will be shut down.
Similarly, in 2063 BS, it had closed down 25 centers, operating against law and shifted 483 children, staying in those centers to other safe areas.