Rs 18.5 Lakh paid, HIV kids yet to get Pushti biscuits by Karnataka State Aids Prevention Society

BENGALURU: It has been nine months since the Karnataka State Aids Prevention Society (KSAPS) transferred more than 70 percent of funds to procure nutritional supplements, in the form of biscuits, for HIV patients from THE AYUSH department. But the latter is yet to deliver them.
The nutritional biscuits, called ‘Pushti’ biscuits, are made of Ayurveda ingredients such as Yestimadhu, Ashvagandha and Amalakai along with cereals and medicated ghee. These biscuits help build better immunity.

Shamla Iqbal, director, KSAPS, told Express, “Since we don’t get enough funds from National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) to meet the needs of HIV patients, the state government is providing around `25 lakh towards the nutrition component. There are about 11,000 children affected by HIV. We wanted to supply Pushti biscuits to three districts and released `18.5 lakh last March before the end of the financial year. But the AYUSH department is yet to supply them. In the recent review, we learnt that they haven’t even started production.” Shamla said each biscuit costs `19, which makes it very costly. With the funds, only 94,736 biscuits can be manufactured and each child will get nine biscuits.

Rathan Kelkar, director, AYUSH, said, “The government central pharmacy, a wing of AYUSH, manufactures drugs for the department which has now been restructured into the Karnataka Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturing Society (KADAMS). Because of this transition a lot of people were transferred and we could not manufacture the biscuits. Now that all the posts have been filled, we can start making them.”
In 2013, the AYUSH department had introduced Ayush Pushti biscuits to deal with malnourishment in anganwadis in Bagalkot district on a pilot basis for three months. As many as 3,000 children, aged between two and six, were given the cookies daily. According to a study, 99 per cent of the children who consumed the Pushti biscuits had gained weight. On an average, children who were given the biscuits gained about 2 kg compared to those who had not consumed the biscuits.