My Martyr, who lived with AIDS

It was raining when I left Kathmandu this morning for Butwal a small
town in western Nepal. Today is the thirteenth day of the general
strike. I was carrying ARVs for some of my friends in Butwal.
Streets of Butwal was in flames. The only means of transportation
to take me to Butwal, 20 kms away from the airport were bicycle and
tricycles (Rickshaw).

As I stepped outside the airport there was a dead silence. Something
chilled my heart. I felt as if something is going to go wrong. I
took a Rickshaw. After a few bargaining with the Rickshaw puller, he
was ready to take me to Butwal for three hundred rupees. Stone and
tree in many places blocked roads and tyres were burning in some
places.

It took me one and half hour to reach our care home. As I had felt,
a person was dying in the center. He was breathing heavily. One of
his relatives was sitting next to him. I talked with her and she
said that she had no hopes. She said, "we are waiting for his death".

I talked with our staff and they told me that there are no flights
till Thursday as the pilot association is also going on a strike
tomorrow. They had been trying to find a seat in flights for last 2
weeks but due to the strike they couldn't succeed.

Though there was a seat in the chartered flights they were very
expensive. And since all the banks were closed, they didn't had
enough money to pay even for the expensive tickets so they decided
to wait till Thursday.

I tried to call an ambulance but all the ambulances were busy
carrying the injured protestors. Over hundred thousand people were
on the streets even in this small town. Some also suggested that it
is useless to call an ambulance because there is no place to take
him.

Private medical college in a nearby town of Bhairawa had already
referred him to Kathmandu saying that they didn't have an expertise
and government hospital had refused to treat him saying they didn't
had the national guidelines on treating patients with HIV/AIDS.

Actually all of that are excuses. Who wants to treat a poor patient
with an incurable disease – a very common perception outside the
main cities?

I called our office in Kathmandu to seek expert advice but before we
could take any further actions he died. I have never felt this kind
of helplessness in my entire life.

If we had taken him to Kathmandu, we could have saved him.

Thousands of Nepalese are fighting for restoration of democracy -
many of them have died.. In a nearby town a women who was watching
the demonstration from her window died after a bullet fired by the
police hit her on the chest and she is now declared as a Martyr for
democracy.

Sadly the one who died in our center today will not be remembered as
a Martyr though he died as a result of the ongoing movement because
he lived with AIDS.

Shibu Giri
Nava Kiran Plus
Butwal, Western Nepal

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