Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Bensy may be discharged from hospital soon

Thiruvananthapuram: Bensy, the HIV-positive child who was admitted to Sree Avittom Tirunal (SAT) Hospital last week following progressive deterioration in general health, is doing fine and could be well enough to be discharged in a few days, doctors at the hospital have said.

Apart from the fact that she has lost much of her body weight, she is not suffering from any opportunistic infections at present.

However, doctors are still monitoring her condition to ensure that her health does not deteriorate drastically.

Bensy has been on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) since 2004. However, now that the infection has advanced to the AIDS stage, she might require stronger second-line drugs that are not currently part of the government-run HIV treatment.

Second-line ART is not an easy decision to make and a lot of drug sensitivity and toxicity studies will have to be performed before an individual can be put on second-line drugs, the doctors said.

They had pointed out that much of the deterioration in health was brought about by malnutrition and the psychological stress that she had been undergoing.

Bensy’s food intake has improved now and with an improvement in nutrition, her general condition could also improve.

She is also undergoing counselling at the hospital so that she is in a better frame of mind, the doctors said.

Her HIV-positive sibling, Benson, and their grandmother are also at the hospital with Bensy.

However, no drastic improvement in her condition can be expected at this stage of HIV infection, the doctors said.

An assistance of Rs.5,000 was given to Bensy by Keraleeyam, a venture of Global Kerala Initiative.

The organisation has been extending an annual assistance of Rs.30,000 to Bensy and her sibling since 2004, as part of their charity project ‘Santhwanam.’

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