The Indian U nion health ministry will sign a memorandum of understanding with former US president Bill Clinton’s foundation and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) as part of a public-private partnership to fight sexually transmitted infections like HIV.
Since IMA has a good private doctors’ network and the Clinton Foundation is involved in a big way in India in the prevention of HIV, the National AIDS Control Organisation has decided to sign the MoU, its deputy director Ajit K Khera said.
According to a survey, 10 per cent of private doctors treat 30 per cent of patients with STI and “we will start working with these doctors closely once the MoU is signed”, he told a high-level meeting on national guidelines to prevent, manage and control reproductive tract and sexually transmitted infections.
Under this partnership, “we will also have special monitoring teams drawn from both medical colleges and private service providers to maintain the quality of service”, he said.