Care and support for AIDS patients in Bihar state

[Guest guest]

India: Nuns help AIDS patients in Bihar state, despite scarcity of

funds

MOKAMEH, India (UCAN): The elderly couple sat near the hospital bed

where their 28-year-old son lay staring blankly into space. The

father, his wrinkled cheeks drenched with tears, softly whispers, " We

only wait for him to die. "

The parents, both in their 70s, are witnessing the last days of their

AIDS-afflicted son at Nazareth Hospital, the first center in Bihar

state to treat victims of the dreaded disease. It is in Mokameh,

about 90 kilometers east of Patna, Bihar's capital. Patna is about

1,015 kilometers east of New Delhi.

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, based in Kentucky, United States,

have managed the hospital since 1948. The nuns opened the AIDS ward

in March 2004.

Hospital rules forbid the AIDS affected and their parents from

disclosing personal details to media. But they may reveal their

surnames someone insists, and the couple told UCA News they are Jha,

a high caste Brahmin surname.

The son came to the hospital in December 2006 after he was declared a

full blown AIDS case. Now reduced to bones and skin, he often sits in

a wheelchair, and his father said his son does not respond to

medicine.

The elder Jha said he initially wanted to run from his son, " but the

father in me prevailed, and even my wife refused to run away. "

The nuns inspired him. " Their loving behavior stirred my conscience, "

he said. " They know my son may die any moment, yet they never show

that in their gestures. They wipe even his nasal excretions and stool

with their own hands. "

The son's neighbor, surnamed Yadav, is in his early 30s. He, his wife

and their two teenage sons came to the hospital in January after they

tested HIV-positive. Yadav came dissatisfied with treatment given by

a Patna government hospital and now testifies to the nuns' " motherly

care of the patients. "

Nazareth Sister Usha Saldanha, the AIDS ward supervisor, says the

nuns create the " best ambience " possible since patients get human

love and concern.

So far, the hospital has treated 545 men, 248 women and 31 children.

A few have died in the hospital, and some return home after learning

to " cope with HIV vagaries, " Sister Saldanha pointed out to UCA News.

The nuns inform the affected that their disease is incurable but can

be controlled with medicines and precautions, such as Anti Retroviral

Therapy (ART). The hospital asks patients who can afford to buy ART

to do so.

" But the poor remain vulnerable, " Sister Saldanha said, so the

hospital now refers critical cases to Patna Medical College. Nazareth

Sister Nirmala Mulackal, the hospital administrator, added that " 99

percent " of patients at Nazareth Hospital are poor, and the men from

most families work beyond Bihar.

The government hospital, Yadav said, should provide free ART, " but

the truth is that nothing is given free there. They take money under

the table. "

Moreover, the state and federal governments do not provide Nazareth

Hospital with funds for ART. According to Sister Saldanha, such

medicine is " a must " for critical HIV/AIDS cases. The health ministry

refuses to help, she said, because a private hospital " cannot be

trusted with the costly ART regimen. "

ART aid recently arrived from Catholic Relief Services, the social-

action arm of Catholic bishops in the United States, and the World

Food Program helps the hospital provide nutritious food.

Even so, Sister Saldanha pointed out, such donors insist that the

hospital and her congregation seek help from AIDS control agencies of

the government.

" It is bizarre -- funds for ART abound, but patients are suffering, "

she lamented. Meanwhile, Yadav and other patients complain that the

government hospital treats them shabbily, and its ART supply is

erratic.

The government reportedly spent 45 million rupees from April 2006 to

March 2007 to combat AIDS, but Sister Mulackal insists that the

government seldom releases funds, even for ordinary medicines.

When UCA News told Bihar's Health Minister Chandra Mohan Rai about

this on May 30, he promised a probe and ensured the money would reach

the nuns soon.

Sister Mulackal dismisses the minister's assurances as " mere paper

tigers " and concludes, " We have to hope against hope and continue

serving. "

http://www.theindiancatholic.com/newsread.asp?nid=7797