Re: HIV-positive BSF soldier challenges dismissal in court

[Guest guest]

Dear All:

I think, the concerned organizations and authorities should take these as

lessons learnt and act to avoid such acts of discrimination in future.

The other day, somebody from the organization was trying to clarify the position

on NDTV... saying, the person was HIV positive along with Tuberculosis,

Candidiasis etc ... I did not understand what he meant? Does this mean, if

somebody is HIV+ he can stay in the organization but if he also has TB and other

opportunistic infections, he has to leave. I think, all this calls for awareness

and sensitization of the agencies on the subject. In HIV/AIDS it is not only

important to know the pathogensis, clinical spectrum and the drugs (which

obviously as madical professionals, the doctors would want to know) but is far

more important to develop the sensitivity to the issue.

Dr Ashok Kumar Agarwal, MBBS,MD

108, Rastraguru Avenue,

Nager Bazar, Kolkata -700028, India

E-mail: drashok_1963@...

[Guest guest]

Dear Dr. Ashok and other forum members,

I do agree that whatever happened with that soldier in the BSF was wrong. And a

person should not be expelled from the job because of his or her sero status.

This is really disgusting that it happened in the defence sector.

I strongly feel the need to sensitize the Govt. Authorities on the issues. Apart

from this there must be mass campaign for general masses to reduce the stigma

and discrimination around it. The rate with which the infection is increasing

indicates an alarming situation for the country in the time to come in near

future. some new and effective initiatives need to be taken in this direction to

combat the crisis.

Peace

Farhad Ali

E-mail: farhadali4u@...

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

(Ref: An HIV-positive Indian soldier Bala Husein, 30, will have a court hearing

in November seeking reinstatement in the Border Security Force (BSF), a

paramilitary service stationed at India's frontiers and active in

anti-insurgency operations).

I think the doctor on NDTV (Director-medical BSF-as was shown on TV) was somehow

trying to show that the case was " serious enough " and since, he had

oppertunistic infections; he deserved to be left out.

There is an urgent need for the professional medical bodies to form an opinion

and come out with recommendations to deal with such evantualities.

This would give less oppertunity to the media to malign doctors and put them to

defense.

Vikas Dhikav

E-mail: vikasdhikav@...