Mumbai: Bhagwati municipal hospital at Borivli, shuns AIDS patient

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Mumbai: Bhagwati municipal hospital at Borivli. shuns AIDS patient

Hospital shuns AIDS patient

Viju B [31Oct, 2006 0148hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

MUMBAI: In yet another appaling example of the city's crumbling

public health care system, a frail patient claiming to be in the

last stages of AIDS was forced to spend a week outside Bhagwati

municipal hospital at Borivli.

Shunned by his family and friends, Bishwajeet, a youth from Orissa

in his mid-twenties, was near a huge mound of garbage outside the

hospital when TOI discovered him on Monday morning. Lying in a pool

of his own faeces and barely breathing, he had covered his face with

his torn shirt to shield himself from the harsh October sun. " I need

water, " he whispered feebly.

Taking out a dried-up orange from a plastic bag—given to him by a

fruit seller—he tried to peel it, but was so weak that he was unable

to even hold it. He watched helplessly as it rolled into the drain

below. " I used to work as a fitter in this city. But ever since I

got this disease, I am unable to work, " he said, and then murmured

in a near-delirium, " I need medicine. I need to go to Mumbai. " It

was a statement that he kept repeating even when told that he was in

Mumbai.

Bishwajeet, who contracted AIDS through a blood transfer, was shooed

away everytime he went anywhere near the hospital gate. In front of

this reporter's eyes, a havaldar raised his baton when Bishwajeet

staggered weakly into the garden inside the hospital. " Saala, kitna

baar bola andar mat aana (How many times have I told you to stay

away?) " he yelled. Biswajeet uttered feebly again, " I need to go to

Mumbai. "

An hour later, after TOI informed Dr M Wadiwala, the hospital's

medical superintendent, about Bishwajeet's plight, the authorities

decided to admit him. By then the young man had ducked beneath a

car, petrified that the cops might beat him up. He came out after he

was assured that he would be taken to 'Mumbai'.

When asked why he had to suffer such negligence, especially after

lying right at the entrance of the hospital for so many days, Dr A V

Bhat, senior medical officer said, " The hospital beds are already

packed with 85 fever cases. The hospital does not have separate

wards for such patients who may be suffering from infections like

TB. We will now admit him and do a through medical check-up. "

Bhagawati Hospital, which caters to patients from Andheri to Mira

Road in the western suburbs, still does not have the facility to

give ART treatment to AIDS/HIV patients. " We refer these cases to

Nair or JJ Hospital, " said a senior doctor.

Doctors and NGOs working in the field of AIDS point out that

according to health ministry stipulations there cannot be any

discrimination against people suffering from AIDS. " It is mandatory

for public health care hospitals to admit patients even if they do

not have wards exclusively for AIDS patients. The patients should be

treated for opportunistic infections, " said Dr S N Sapatnekar,

director, Avert Foundation, India.

It is estimated that 1.5% of Mumbai's 15 million denizens are

infected with HIV. AIDS specialists note that the government does

not bother to provide amenities to patients. " We do not even have a

concept like hospices at municipal hospitals, " said Dr J Maniar,

AIDS specialist.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/242991.cms