Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir AIDS Control Society (JKACS) as part of its annual activity organized a two days regional review cum capacity building workshop under the Lab Services Component for the nine north Indian States/UT’s which included Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttrakhand and Uttar Pradesh from 13th – 14th June 2023. The meeting was attended by the participants from Share India, Experts from “FIND” organization, team of officers from National AIDS Control Organization and officials from the nine participating State AIDS Control Societies.
The objective of the meeting was to review the performance of all the participating State AIDS Control Societies under the Lab Services Component and to take stock of the quality of HIV and Syphilis tests being carried-out across the STI, ART and ICTC Centers in these States/UTs.
The meeting started with the welcome to the participants by Deputy Director, Lab Services, NACO, Dr. Bhawna Rao. In her addrssed she expressed her gratitude to all the participants for making it to attend the said meeting
Project Director, Punjab AIDS Control Society, Dr. Adapa Karthik, IAS, also addressed the participants and thanked JKACS for organizing this event for the first time in the UT of J&K.
Later, Project Director, JKACS, Dr. Samir Mattoo also addressed the gathering and expressed his gratitude to the Lab Services Division NACO, for providing JKACS a chance to hold this review in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir for the first time. He also requested NACO to hold such meetings regularly in the UT of Jammu & Kashmir so that more people from other states get a chance to see the growth, development and improvement in the overall situation of J&K.
In his key address Deputy Director General, Lab Services appreciated the working of Lab Services component of all the participating states for providing quality testing facilities for the common people and highlighted the objectives of the review meeting cum capacity building workshop to the participants. He also urged all the participants to give their inputs for improving the overall system in order to achieve the desired goal of providing the quality HIV testing services to masses.
Senior officials who were part of the meeting included Deputy Director General, Lab Services, NACO, Dr. U. B. Das; Project Director J&K AIDS Control Society, Dr. Samir Mattoo; Deputy Director, Lab Services, NACO, Dr. Bhawna Rao and the participants from different States/UTs.
