Bangalore Municipal Corporation Orders Closure of HIV/AIDS Care Centre

[Guest guest]

ACTION ALERT:

Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Orders Closure of HIV/AIDS Care Centre

Chief Health Officer says all patients receiving HIV/AIDS care. The patients at

the Samraksha Community Care Centre must be admitted into the Isolation

Hospital. The residents of OMBR Layout say that their psychological health is

disturbed by the knowledge of the presence of PLHAs in the locality

The Samraksha HIV/AIDS Care Centre at OMBR Layout in Bangalore City faces

closure. 12 People Living with HIV/AIDS face the immediate risk of being

isolated, and of their natural and constitutional rights being violated.

At 1.50 pm on 23-May-03, BMP's Chief Health Officer phoned the Director of

Samraksha and ordered the immediate transfer of people living with HIV from the

Community Care Centre to the Isolation Hospital.

He cited complaints from the residents as his rationale, and said that he was

empowered to take any and all action to ensure that the local residents were no

longer disturbed by the fear of being infected by HIV/AIDS.

The Samraksha Care Centre was moved to its present location on 12-May-03. In the

past 11 days, 14 PLHAs have been provided in-patient services. We are one of

the few centres in Karnataka, which provide palliative care to people in

terminal stages of HIV care.

Samraksha has been offering Counselling, Care and Support to people living with

HIV/AIDS (PLHAs) since 1993. So far it has offered services to over 5500 people

living with HIV/AIDS and their families. Samraksha has been operating a

Community Care Centre since 1997. During this period, we have offered

comprehensive residential care to 723 People Living with HIV/AIDS. This has

included counselling, treatment, palliative care, family counselling and

education, care-giver training, bereavement counselling, and psychosocial

support to PLHAs and their families.

However, the old space was inadequate to meet our growing needs. This was

compounded by sanitation and water problems, which made it imperative for us to

shift to new premises. During the last 3 years, we have made several requests to

the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, and to the Department of Health & Family

Welfare, GOK, for appropriate accommodation. We have yet to receive a positive

response.

The shifting of our care centre to its present location has disturbed the local

residents. Despite our efforts to inform them that they face no personal threat

of HIV/AIDS from our care centre, local residents have complained that the care

centre poses grave threat to their psychological health.

The local residents have also lodged a complaint with local police station

against services to people with HIV/AIDS in their neighbourhood and have asked

the police to immediately evict them and send them to an asylum or the isolation

hospital.

The Commissioner, BMP, had in a meeting on 19-May-03 asked us to identify

Corporation premises suitable for our care requirements. We were happy that the

BMP was willing to share some of the responsibility for the care of PLHAs in

their constituency, and were in the process of appraising some of the available

sites.

We were in the process of finalising the appraisal report when we received the

telephone call from the CHO asking us to shut down the care centre and to shift

our patients to the isolation hospital, as the residents wanted an immediate

eviction.

The State and National Policy on care & support of PLHAs has encouraged NGOs to

run care centres where PLHAs receive counselling, palliative care and

psychosocial support in the community. Preparation for death, bereavement

counselling, palliation in the terminal stage, and emotional support of

surviving family members are critical components of this programme.

PLHAs have faced widespread discrimination. Segregation of PLHAs, and relegating

them to isolation hospitals has been recognised as an unsuccessful strategy

across the world in both prevention of the epidemic and reduction of its impact.

In recognition of this, the National Policy on HIV/AIDS encourages care centres

in the community to provide a human face to the epidemic.

One of the key recommendations of the National Consultation on Community-Based

Care that was held in Bangalore on 12-14-May-03, was that care centres should be

housed in the midst of people and not isolated.

What has happened at the OMBR Layout in the past 11 days has given us a glimpse

into the discrimination that PLHAs face.

We are surprised the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike should become a party to such

discrimination, which is against the very policy of the Government of Karnataka.

We are overwhelmed with the support from all of you- NGOs, CBOs, movements,

individuals of people living with and supporting people with HIV/AIDS

Thank you for your support and solidarity. We will keep you informed of

developments

Sanghamitra Iyengar

Samraksha, Bangalore

E-mail: siyengar@...