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Painful facts about treatment of HIV-hit

KORAPUT: Getting information using Right To Information (RTI) might be easier but the authenticity of the information could be awesome, K. Santosh Kumar, secretary of Network of Positive People in Koraput(NKP+), alleged, while talking to the participants of the regional level meeting of People living with HIV/AIDS at Koraput.

According to him, he had applied for information on the facilities in the VCTC of the district headquarter hospital at Koraput and was misguided with false information by the authorities.

While there was a mention in the reply from the authorities that there were separate counselling centres in the hospital on the basis of their gender there was no such provisions in reality , he said . In addition to this misinformation, he also pointed out that there was a mismatch in the information on the medical support given to the patients.

While the information given had said that there was no dearth of medicines and provisions for the infected persons in the hospital , the patients were asked to purchase even the gloves to be used for their treatment, he alleged. According to him there were a large-scale discrimination by the medical authorities against affected persons in the region.

Adding to his concern, he said patients were very often referred to the community care centre in the town from the district headquarter hospital. But without sufficient facilities and instruments in the community care centre, these patients were sent back once again to the hospital. Many patients, looking at the nature of treatment they received for their infection, preferred to suffer silently rather than going to the medicos in the region, he alleged.

Narrating the plight of patients going to Berhampur for getting the Anti Retrieval Therapy (ART) treatment , A.Dilip Kumar Rao , member of INP+ , Berhampur chapter said that being the only place in the State having ART facility , Berhampur facds the rush of patients visiting from far-off places like Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts.

While the treatment was given free of cost, the journey and stay in the city gives more pain than the symptom itself , he added. Very often patients get only the first dose of the medicine .

Thanks to the provision made by some NGOs for the patients going to the centre for the first time .

Without any further support and thanks to their poverty, most of the patients discontinue their medicines after the first dose, causing serious problems for their life . Hence there was a need to open ART centres in every district headquarter to minimise the expenses and thus maximizing the exposure of the facility to more patients , Naina, Programme Coordinator of INP+ for the region said.

While according to a statistics there were 7900 people in the State living with HIV/AIDS , there could be far more in reality as many people have not tested their blood and were suffering without knowing that they were infected .

More over as many affected people from places like Koraput and Berhampur test their blood in the neighbouring states to avoid any discrimination from society, the exact number of patients living with HIV/AIDS was not yet known to any one, she said. People living with HIV/AIDS have come out open to the public using different forums so as to sensitize people that despite being infected with the virus they could live longer if proper care was taken. They also wish to give more strength to the people living with HIV/AIDS by standing with them at the time of their need , she added.

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