Carla Bruni to visit Safdarjung Hospital Monday

NEW DELHI - Taking her association with the cause of HIV-AIDS a step forward, French first lady Carla Bruni would visit Safdarjung Hospital here Monday.

“The French President’s wife would be visiting the hospital. We are holding a meeting with the French delegation and it’s difficult to tell about details of the plan right now,” the hospital’s medical superintendent M.K. Mohanty told IANS Saturday.

Bruni, also the goodwill ambassador of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, will visit the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre and the out-patients department (OPD) of the hospital to meet counsellors and HIV positive patients.

Hospital authorities may decide to keep the media out of the premises during her visit.

National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), which forms policy and implements programmes for the prevention and control of HIV-AIDS in India, has been coordinating with the French embassy for the visit.

Bruni is also scheduled to visit the Naz Foundation-run home for HIV-positive children in East of Kailash in south Delhi.

“There are nearly 30 children in the home here. They are quite excited and have also made some special greeting cards for Bruni, Naz Foundation’s chief Anjali Gopalan told IANS.

On a four-day official visit to India, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni arrived at the Bangalore airport Saturday.

His visit is aimed at expanding cooperation in defence, nuclear power, sustainable development and culture.