Sri Lanka: Affluent AIDS patients prefer India for treatment'

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'Affluent AIDS patients prefer India for treatment'

Press Trust of India

Posted online: Friday, December 09, 2005 at 1427 hours IST

Colombo, December 9: Fearing social retribution on the still taboo

issue of HIV and AIDS, people living with the deadly disease in Sri

Lanka prefer to go to India for treatment, where their identity

remains hidden, activists working for rights of AIDS patients have

claimed.

The trend, especially among the financially affluent, to go to India

for maintaining anonymity during treatment for the killer disease,

has seen a rise recently, according to the activists. " The upper

class of Sri Lanka, mainly living in the capital city and very well-

known socially, are increasingly going out to India for treatment

for HIV and AIDS, " a member of the Lanka plus, a support group

working for people living with the disease told PTI.

" The social security blanket for affected people is very thin here,

and those who have money quietly book appointments with doctors in

India, go there for treatment without anyone knowing in their social

strata, come back and live a normal life in their own country if

they are HIV positive, " the member, who is also one of the country's

longest surviving HIV positive patients, said. About 92 referred Sri

Lankan patients received treatment in India last year, he said

citing data with doctors here.

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=59763