On 12 September, 2022, Anti-Retroviral Therapy(ART) Dispensation Centres at 6 Central Jails across Assam was centrally inaugurated at Central Jail, Guwahati by Hon'ble Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Government of Assam, Shri Keshab Mahanata. The 6 Central Jails include the Central Jails of Guwahati, Silchar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tezpur and Nagaon. During welcome speech, Inspector General of Prisons, Assam Smt. Barnali Sharma, ACS, thanked the Assam State AIDS Control Society(ASACS) for taking such an initiative for providing ART medicines in jails which will be very helpful for prison inmates who are infected by HIV. The Inspector General of Prisons, Assam requested for establishment of Drug De-addiction Centres in jails which will be immensely helful for the drug users and also requested installation of a digital x-ray machine in jails.

Project Director, Assam State AIDS Control Society(ASACS), Pomi Baruah, ACS in her speech said that Assam is the 5th state in the country to have ART Dispensation Centres in jails and these centres will ve bery much beneficial to the prison inmates who are infected with HIV. For various security reasons, it becomes difficult for an HIV-infected prison inmate to avail HIV treatment in ART Centres located in hospitals. Now, with the establishment of ART Dispensation Centres in jails, the prison-inmate can avail ART at door step. Also, there is Opioid Substitution Therapy(OST) services for injecting drug users in Central Jail, Guwahati and very soon OST services will be made available in other jails across Assam.