Balangir: HIV infected children have not been getting their medicines at the Anti-Retroviral Treatment Centre here for the last two months.

The official in charge of the centre, Purna Chandra Sahu, has admitted that anti-retroviral medicines abacavir and lamivudine have been out of stock for more than two months.

"We have written about it to the Odisha State AIDS Control Society (OSACS) which supplies medicine to the ART centres. But, we are yet to get the medicines," he said.

Apart from the people of Balangir, patients from neighbouring districts - such as Sonepur and Kalahandi - also depend upon the ART centre in Balangir for their medicines. At present, some 1,316 patients, including 104 children, have been registered at the ART centre for treatment and supply of medicine.

In April, only 947 registered patients could be given the medicines, while in May, 968 patients got their medicines. Children could not be supplied with the medicines for the last two months due to stock shortage. The father of an HIV-affected child said that he had been coming to the ART centre for medicines for the last one month.