From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Dec 1: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has asked all the health care workers to strive to ensure that Karnataka and India is rid of the dreaded HIV AIDS menace.

Inaugurating the World AIDS Day and its 25th anniversary function organised by the State Health Department in Vidhana Soudha on Friday, he said all the health care workers and society is duty-bound to prevent the spread of the AIDS disease.

He pointed out that AIDS was first detected in the country in 1986 and in Karnataka in 1987. Though the incidence and spread of AIDS is waning, it is the duty of all citizens to work for the eradication of the disease.

The chief minister said it is lamentable that the target of eradicating AIDS by 2019-2020 has not materialised. However, the duty of eradicating AIDS is not just a responsibility of the health department and all citizens must cooperate and do their bit, he said.

Siddaramaiah said India ranks third in the world in the number of AIDS cases and asked the people to be cautious about the disease which spreads through blood. There is no cure yet for AIDS and scientists must step up their efforts to identify the cure, he said.

The chief minister conversed with an AIDS affected person, who was present in the function, and said the person has survived for 26 years and is still courageous. The person has even undergone an angioplasty surgery, he said.

Earlier, he paid tributes to former chief minister Kengal Hanumanthaiah, the builder of the magnificient Vidhana Soudha building on his death anniversary.