Society's new untouchables

[Guest guest]

Society's new untouchables

PRATHIMA NANDAKUMAR & RADHA SHARMA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2004 10:43:13 PM ]

AHMEDABAD/ VADODARA: In the touching Hollywood blockbuster

Philadelphia', Tom Hanks won an for his portrayal of an Aids

patient who fights a legal battle for compensation after his

employers fire him for contracting the deadly virus.

But, in Vadodara, there are no awards coming Mohammed Hussain's way

after he was diagnosed with HIV. His employer, while visiting him to

inquire about his health, also brought with him Hussain's termination

letter.

Similar is the case in Ahmedabad, where a letter from a desperate 28-

year-old HIV positive patient reached the NGO, Project Support Unit

(PSU). " I am waiting for death. My family treats me like an

untouchable. They do not let me venture near my house, do not talk to

me and are not bothered as to whether I am dead or alive. I want to

earn so that I can eat one meal a day but people are not ready to

give me work. I have lost two jobs ... I am waiting for death to free

me from this hell, " it said.

A PSU survey, wherein 799 HIV positive people in Gujarat have been

interviewed, reveals that 47 per cent of them are discriminated

against. " Discrimination was the highest, surprisingly, in hospitals —

at 50 per cent. In society, it was 44.8 per cent, at the family

level it was 39 per cent and at the workplace, it was 22.9 per cent, "

said PSU project manager Arvind Patel.

Forty-five-year-old Ramanik Lal of Vadodara is a shattered man as his

wife and two children have walked out on him after he was found to be

HIV positive.

The only motivation in his life is his central government job.

Initially, his in-laws spoke of divorce, but they have now changed

their mind.

But, their decision to abort the divorce plans has caused him more

pain because " they are counting on the benefits they can get after my

death. It is painful to see your own people waiting for you to die, "

says Lal.

The plight of women with HIV is even more pathetic. Says Rajniben

Patel of Vadodara, a widow, " My in-laws did not disclose my husband's

HIV status before our marriage. I contracted the virus from him.

After his death, his family started taunting me and now, they do not

help me with my medical expenses. "

" My husband contracted Aids first but his family blamed me for his

misery. Within five days of his death, they threw me out on the

street with my son. They called us untouchables and denied us our

share of the property, " says a distraught Sona Raval, an HIV patient

in Ahmedabad.

The problem is evident in Surat too. " Many HIV positive persons have

been thrown out of their homes and workplace due to the stigma

attached to the disease. Women are the most affected and have been

forced out by their in-laws " , says Daksha Patel, general secretary of

Suratbased Gujarat State Network of Positive People, the first-ever

network of HIV positive patients in Gujarat.

" In the state, discrimination is more at the community level. It is

there even in hospitals as we get complaints of private hospitals

refusing to treat patients and refusing delivery cases, " says Gujarat

State Aids Control Society deputy director DM Saxena.

(Names of victims have been changed to protect identity)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/484094.cms