The Hindu : Physicians join campaign for uniform treatment of AIDS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 06, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Physicians join campaign for uniform treatment of AIDS

By Ramya Kannan

CHENNAI, FEB. 5. For the first time in the battle against the epidemic in India, Tamil Nadu physicians have come together to form a network to bring about uniformity in the treatment of persons living with HIV/AIDS.

While networks of people living with the disease have bolstered the movement against HIV/AIDS since its inception, this is the first time physicians have joined the campaign, formally. The organisation, Tamil Nadu Doctors Network for HIV/AIDS Care, comprises 150 physicians.

The network, which has the encouragement of the Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Society (TANSACS), will be based in Chennai but the members will function from the districts. They will receive special training in drug regimens, surgical procedures and social and ethical issues involved in treatment.

The members include professionals in the Prevention of Parent-to-Child Transmission programme in all government hospitals, physicians in district headquarters hospitals and private practitioners who are taking care of those with HIV/AIDS. ``We have had an overwhelming response from the doctors since we floated the idea. Members of the Indian Medical Association, the Indian Association of Paediatricians and venereologists have expressed eagerness to join the network,'' according to its organiser, P. Kuganantham.

Key agenda

The most important agenda is to standardise care and treatment, he says. ``We will attempt to bring about uniformity in prescribing drugs for persons living with HIV/AIDS. At the moment, doctors keep changing the drugs. We will follow established protocols as per NACO (National AIDS Control Organisation) guidelines.''

The members of the network will work as referral units in their districts, also supporting local hospitals for implementation of universal work precautions and safe disposal of biomedical wastes.

In addition, they will sort out HIV/AIDS-related ethical and social issues in their localities. In this effort, they hope to coordinate with local non-governmental organisations and networks of positive persons.

``Several doctors, especially those in rural areas, refuse to treat or perform surgical procedures on patients who have contracted HIV,'' says N. Ganapathy, a private `critical care' physician in Erode, who signed up to be part of the network. ``Without timely medical care, the patients might even die. We will campaign among our colleagues to remove the stigma and discrimination, and convince them not to turn persons with HIV/AIDS away.''

More crucial is the role of the network to monitor cases of stigma and discrimination and judgemental practice in the care of persons with HIV and bring them to the notice of the authorities and TANSACS, so that appropriate action can be initiated against the errant practitioners. In addition, information can be shared across the network and to aid in fundamental research, says Dr. Kuganantham. Creating awareness of sex and sexuality, HIV and AIDS among adolescents in rural and urban areas would also be part of the agenda, the members explain.

Positive persons' networks welcome the physicians banding together for the cause. ``It is bound to help at a time like this, when the Government has committed itself to providing anti-retrovirals for positive persons.

A similar experiment in South Africa, where a group of health care workers teamed with positive persons to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS proved a success. There is no reason to believe it will not succeed here,'' says P. Kausalya, Positive Women's Network.

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