Letter of concern from Bengal network Of People Living with HIV/AIDS (BNP+).

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

Greetings from Bengal network Of People Living with HIV/AIDS (BNP+).

Our board member Mr. Kishore Kumar Shaw (Joint. Secretary)faced some problem

when he was admitted in School Of Tropical medicine (STM).

In this regard, as a matter of concern he send two letters (to The Project

Director, WBSACS, and to the Superintendent of that Hospital)

The following is what he wrote: -

Respected Sir,

I am Kishore Kumar Shaw, admitted in S.T.M at Bed No.- KCB 18, on 18th July 2005

for the purpose of my treatment under Dr. S.K. Guha.

I was suffering a tremendous pain in my lower abdomen portion, so Dr. Guha

reffered myself to Surgical Gastroenterologist Dr. G. Chatterjee, department of

H.O.D. (M.C.H) on 26th July 2005 and I went to the said dept.with Referral From

and waiting outside of the chamber of Dr. Chatterjee and sent my referral form

to him by his attendant.

I was so surprised when I saw that, the attendant comeback from Dr.Chatterjee’s

chamber with the name of some medicines, prescribed by Dr. G. Chatterjee. I

could not understand that how a responsible Doctor can prescribe the medicine to

the patient without seeing him?

I returned my bed with depression and informed to Dr. S.K. Guha about such

behavior of Dr. G. Chatterjee.

I am so sorry to report you about the above-mentioned incident happened with me

and waiting for your kind suggestion regarding this matter.

Thanks with regards,

Yours sincerely,

Kishore Kumar Shaw

(Jt. Secretary BNP+)

The Superintendent of M.C.H promised us it would not be happen again.

And what we will say about our Project Director (WBSACS), he is really a great

man. He is so friendly and cooperative to us. He is doing lot of work for West

Bengal. We know we will get rright judgment and we are waiting for that.

With Regards,

Tarit Chakraborty (President BNP+).

E-mail: <tarit_chakraborty2004@...>

[Guest guest]

Dear Tarit,

This was a sad message to read having regard to WBSACS's excellent record in

responsive and sensitive behaviour towards those who are HIV +ve. It is good

however to make contact with you again after so long. Greetings from Melbourne.

That the national and international community is now knowing about the

unprofessional behaviour of one resident medical officer of the School of

Tropical Medicine must be very disappointing to the Superintendent of the

hospital, which has been at the forefront of the fight to maintain HIV +ve

people to be able to live free of AIDS disease.

In one sense it is useful in that it happened to Joint Secretary of BNP+ which

in itself shows a weakness in the system. Clearly the doctor misunderstood the

calibre of the patient and their capacity to advocate for responsible and

professional medical care. Imagine that it happened to a member of the public

whose advocacy skills are not yet developed. It would have gone unnoticed and an

opportunity for better practice would have been lost.

Please pass on my regards to Kumar and wish him well in his advocacy efforts and

I hope that an accurate diagnosis has now been made and treatment is on the way

to making him well again.

Kindest regards to all

Geoffrey

E-mail: <gheaviside@...>