Hospitals show door to critical HIV+
Manisha Sharma
Lucknow, May 18, 2007
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=87ad8601-
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For 16 agonising hours starting from Wednesday night, Krishna was
shunted from one hospital to hospital. No doctor wanted to touch him
even as his blood pressure was shooting up due to renal failure.
Reason: he is HIV-positive.

At first, Krishna, a Naz Foundation of India (NFI) employee, was
rushed to Mayo Hospital in Gomti Nagar, then to Nova Hospital and
thereafter to Sewa Hospital for dialysis. He was refused help at all
three hospitals. Next, at King George's Medical College, the dialysis
machine was not working.

Finally, his family and friends managed to take him to the SGPGI
hospital at 2 a.m. Initially, the staff said they would admit him but
developed cold feet as soon as they heard the `H' word. Thereafter,
the staff started coming up with excuses and refused to admit the
patient. After being told about the medical protocols and medico-
legal rights, the authorities were forced to admit Krishna. But they
kept him in the emergency ward and failed to provide him with the
appropriate treatment till 7.30 a.m.

Meanwhile, NFI chief Arif Jafar managed to inform Uttar Pradesh State
AIDS Control Society project director S.P. Goyal about Krishna's
plight. Goyal, in turn, spoke to SGPGI director A.K. Mahapatra and
got an assurance from him that the patient would be treated. But even
then, Krishna was wheeled into the operation theatre for dialysis
only at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Jafar shudders to think of what an "ordinary" HIV-positive patient
who knows no doctor or higher authority in the medical fraternity
would have to go through to get life-saving treatment.

"Forget a common man, even the medical fraternity is not sensitive
toward the plight of HIV-positive people," says Naresh Yadav of UP
Positive People's Network, an NGO.

The United Nations General Assembly held a special session on HIV and
AIDS five years ago and thereafter, a declaration to make a specific
commitment to reducing the social stigma associated with HIV/AIDS was
adopted. Despite this, many HIV-positive people still experience some
of the worst discrimination.

And for every Krishna who gets reported, there are numerous other
cases that go unnoticed.

Email author: itsmanisha@...