Nagaland’s first Model ART Plus Centre inaugurated at District Hospital Dimapur

DIMAPUR — The Additional Secretary and Director General of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), V Hekali Zhimomi, inaugurated the Model ART Plus Centre at the District Hospital, Dimapur, on Friday.

While interacting with media persons, the senior medical officer of the Model ART Plus Centre, Dr. Hotoka Hesso, informed that the ART Plus Centre, which has been functioning since 2015, has now been upgraded to a Model ART Plus Centre to provide enhanced services.

Hesso explained that, like other ART Plus Centres, this facility offers free treatment and care for people living with HIV, including the provision of TB medicines. However, he highlighted that the Model ART Plus Centre is distinct in its capacity to manage treatment failure cases, where patients show no improvement after taking HIV medication.

In such cases, the centre provides second-line ART treatment and, if required, third-line treatment through the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS), a facility not available in all ART Plus Centres.

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The centre, he said, is equipped with well-trained counsellors, nurses, medical officers, data operators, and laboratory technicians—a total of 16 staff—who are committed to delivering the best possible care to HIV patients.

Hesso expressed confidence that with the right treatment, individuals living with HIV can lead healthy and fulfilling lives.

He further informed that the Model ART Plus Centre in Nagaland is the only one of its kind in the state, and as per the programme, each state will have one Model ART Plus Centre to strengthen HIV treatment services across the country.