Pune KEM Hospital to pay for HIV treatment

[Guest guest]

Blood transfusion that was Pune girl's `death

sentence'

ANURADHA MASCARENHAS

PUNE, MARCH 14: FOR 13 years, Shahrukh and his family

have been living a ``death sentence''. In December

1988, his 13-day-old daughter went into the Pune-based

King Memorial Hospital with neo-natal

septicemia and came out with AIDS.

Five days ago, the Bombay High Court ordered the

hospital to bear all the medical expenses of keeping

alive Mitra, who is believed to have contacted the

disease during blood transfusion.

But this is small consolation for 47-year-old Shahrukh

and his wife, who have lost their jobs, contemplated

suicide and begged for money to fight off AIDS.

Or for Mitra, who speaks excitedly about her love for

English and maths but was told to leave school in

Standard IV. ``Yes, my daughter can live for a few

more years but...,'' Shahrukh's voice trails off.

A long uncomfortable silence follows as he looks

around at the cluttered mess that his one-bedroom

house has become — bills which run into Rs 20,000

every month for some 30-60 tablets of Fortovase

Saquinavir capsules, Lamivudine and Zidovudine

tablets, newspaper clippings speaking of the

devastating effect of the HIV virus on the brain and

the stress of living with the illness.

Or is he remembering the years of sleepless nights,

the frequent visits to the hospital and the toll the

disease has taken on his family — his frequent fights

with his wife, and his outbursts at his son for

touching his sister with unclean hands.

http://www.indian-express.com/ie20020315/nat8.html

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