HIV-infected orphans face boycott in Orissa

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HIV-infected orphans face boycott in Orissa

JAGATSINGHPUR (ORISSA): Two minor girls who have tested HIV positive

in Orissa are facing social boycott, and no one seems ready to lend

a helping hand except an uncle.

Eight-year-old Rashmita and her six-year-old sister Kanaklata live

at Nuagaon village in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur. But

because of the disease, they cannot play or go to school.

Their father Sourendra worked in Mumbai as a labourer for nearly 15

years. When he returned home he was stricken with illness,

Sourendra's elder brother Gouranga Naik said.

" We admitted him to a hospital after his condition became critical.

The doctors diagnosed his illness as tuberculosis. When he showed

signs of improvement, they discharged him, " Gouranga said.

After the super cyclone of 1999, his condition became critical. He

was suffering from AIDS and finally died in 2002. His wife too died

of AIDS in November 2005 and the children were orphaned, said

Gouranga who is a labourer.

" I have to take care of my five daughters. Although I do not earn

adequately to feed my own children I am taking care of my brother's

children. I am not reluctant to do so, " he said.

The problem began when volunteers of an NGO took Rashmita and

Kanaklata to a health centre in November, Both girls were found

infected by the HIV positive virus.

The villagers barred them from attending school fearing they might

spread the disease. The children have been ostracised by other

villagers as well.

AIDS has killed 459 people in Orissa between January 2002 and

September 2005.

" We are not allowed to play, nor are we allowed to study in school, "

Rashmita said. Their uncle does not have the money to buy medicines

for their treatment.

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