The Hindu : Front Page : Medical camps planned for prisoners in Coimbatore

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 29, 2005

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Medical camps planned for prisoners in Coimbatore

V.S. Palaniappan

Blood tests for those suffering from prolonged illness

Coimbatore: Three convicts of the Coimbatore Central Prison suspected to have died of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), according to prison sources. In total, four convicts had died in the last two months.

As a result, the prison administration "has decided to conduct medical check-ups and blood tests for prisoners suffering from prolonged illness and those who do not respond to treatment", said prison sources.

DIG of Prisons, Coimbatore Range, B.M. Ezra, and Superintendent of Prisons, Coimbatore Central Prison, S. Rajendran, have planned to organise a series of medical check-ups and blood tests for prisoners willing to undergo screening for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Willingness sought

Top prison officials said that screening for HIV infection could not be done by compulsion. The willingness of the prisoners had been sought.

So far, only 100 of the 2,533 prisoners at the Coimbatore Central Prison volunteered to undergo blood test.

Those who were falling ill frequently would be kept under observation and subjected to medical checks and blood tests.

The prisoners who often fell ill were either treated at the prison hospital or referred to the convict ward at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH).

As on date, 20 prisoners were undergoing treatment at the jail hospital and 10 at the CMCH.

No privacy

Refuting the allegation that "unnatural sexual practices" were the reason for the inmates contracting HIV, the prison officials said that there was no privacy for the undertrials to indulge in any such act and as such every cell was packed to capacity. Medical history of the prisoners who died recently would reveal that they had contracted HIV and proved positive even before they were lodged in jail.

Two convicts who died were accused in criminal case and one in rape case.

Lifestyle and habits

The lifestyles and habits of criminals made them vulnerable to HIV, they pointed out.

Once a prisoner was suspected to be HIV positive and turning out to be a full-blown AIDS case, he would be referred to the convict ward of the AIDS Care Centre at the Tambaram Sanatorium, Chennai, the sources said.

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