The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : People living with HIV/AIDS protest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 01, 2011
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

People living with HIV/AIDS protest

Staff Reporter

‘A person was denied ART treatment'
Doctor insists on him undergoing counselling first

Bangalore: Alleging that a person living with HIV/AIDS from Nagaland was denied anti-retroviral therapy (ART) treatment at St. John's Hospital in the city, a group of people living with HIV/AIDS staged a protest in front of the hospital on Thursday.

The protesters, under the aegis of the Karnataka HIV Sonkithara Sanghatane, shouted slogans against the hospital and demanded that the person receive the treatment immediately. Parveen, an activist from the sanghatane, said the person, an injecting drug user, was being denied ART at the hospital for the last two months, despite having low immunity levels.

“This person is being treated for some mental condition at NIMHANS and he is ‘weak' on his right side. Although we requested Ravi Kumar, the Medical Officer of the ART centre in the hospital, the doctor refused to start treatment on the grounds that the person has to undergo compliance counselling first,” Ms. Parveen said.

“He is only concerned about the clean record of the hospital in maintaining 100 per cent follow-up record of positive patients rather than providing immediate treatment as per National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS) regulations,” she said.

Hospital's denial

Denying that the person was refused treatment, George D'Souza, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, said certain procedures had to be followed before the person is put on ART treatment. “As per NACO guidelines, the person has to be counselled at least four times before ART. This is to ensure that he does not miss even a single dose as it will increase the risk of drug resistance,” he said.

“The person came to us last month but did not register for ART. He returned day before yesterday and asked for ART, which is not possible without counselling. As per the plan, he was to be started on ART from April 9,” Dr. D'Souza added.

Meanwhile, the individual's brother has complained to KSAPS Project Director R.R. Jannu, who has forwarded it to NACO.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka