HIV positive baby on sale - but no takers

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HIV positive baby on sale - but no takers

By Sujeet Kumar, Raipur, Aug 25: This is the story of an HIV positive

woman in Chhattisgarh who has been driven by poverty to offer her

newborn daughter for sale - and the little baby whom no one wants

because she too is infected with the virus.

Goldy, in her 30s, has been visiting public places in Kondagaon in

Bastar district, about 220 km from here, to sell off her baby girl

ever since she was discharged from the government hospital there Aug

15 after delivery.

The local administration, which woke up to the issue this week, has

stopped her from offering the baby for sale and arrangements are

being made for her treatment.

" She was holding a week-old baby in her arms and asking people to buy

the child so that she could get money for food, " R.P. Pandey, chief

medical officer of Bastar district, told IANS on telephone.

" Some people who showed initial interest in adopting the baby refused

to do so after a test conducted in the government hospital confirmed

that both the mother and the child are HIV positive, " Pandey said.

" We do not have much details of her family background. She is

refusing to give details. But it's a very touching and emotional

case; we do not know how to help her, " Pandey added.

Bastar's district collector Ganesh Shankar Mishra told IANS over

telephone: " I have come to know about the matter... The

administration will fully cooperate and will not allow her to sell

the kid. I am arranging for advanced treatment of both the mother and

the kid at the government hospital in Raipur.

" I have talked to the chief medical officer in Raipur to admit the

mother and the baby and take care of all their medical needs. "

Despite various measures taken by the government, AIDS continues to

spread in the country.

A UNAIDS report claimed in 2006 that India had the largest number of

people living with HIV/AIDS, an estimated 5.7 million infections.

India's National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), however, put the

figure at between 2.5 million and 3.1 million earlier this month.

People suffering from the disease still face isolation from society.

Goldy's miserable condition is a consequence of the ignorance of

people about the disease.

Earlier this month, a baby in New Delhi was abandoned twice before

she was rescued by an NGO due to the belief that she was HIV positive.

Dumped by her mother in an auto-rickshaw soon after she was born, she

moved from the hands of a poor childless couple to the house of a

medical representative before reaching the NGO.

--- IANS

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