Chandigarh: ART Centre staff sexualy abusing HIV+ve patients

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PGI staff force hiv patients to have sex with them

Chandigarh medical school employees use condoms & force themselves on patients.

EXCLUSIVE By Vikas Kahol in Chandigarh

Showing the deathly rot that has set into the country’s public healthcare system

HIV-positive patients, already bruised by their traumatic physical condition,

are being physically abused by a gang of counsellors and laboratory technicians

in Punjab and Haryana hospitals.

Shockingly, among the hospitals is the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical

Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, recognised as a centre of

excellence along the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences

(AIIMS).

The victims, who say their tormentors are the very people who are expected to

protect them, have provided evidence of a rare kind of depravity where the

counsellors and technicians operate in packs and often force patients who are

commercial sex workers to procure other women for them. The attacks take place

when the victims go for counseling or anti-retrovital (ARV) treatment.

One of them said the HIV-positive status of the patients did not deter the men

who used condoms. She suggested the men perhaps had a “compulsive desire to have

sex” and those visiting them for counseling were easy targets.

A month-long investigation by MAIL TODAY showed startling revelation of their

abuse that has been going on for months. Assured of confidentiality, several

victims spoke on camera to provide grisly details of the abuse and the modus

operandi of their tormentors.

Expressing serious concern over the issue, Dr K K Talwar, Director, PGIMER said

that it was difficult to believe that someone could sexually exploit an HIV

positive patient. “I am duty bound to look into it,” Dr Talwar said.

Take the case of Anu (name changed), a 30-year-old, who lost her husband about

four years ago. The mother of two revealed that she goes to PGIMER in Chandigarh

twice a year for her tests. “One of the attendants demanded that I sleep with

him so that my reports are processed quickly. I resisted but had to give in

finally since I required medicines,” Anu said. The next time he demanded that

she arrange a young girl. “Where do I get one?” asked Anu, who lives in

Chandigarh.

Munni (name changed), a commercial sex worker said her troubles started when a

counsellor came to know of her background. It was during an interaction – HIV

patients are expected to share personal details about themselves with

counsellors. Then, one day the man came with some friends and asked her to

arrange sex workers for them. The men had Munni’s contact number and continued

to hound her with what were evidently unreasonable demands. “It ended after I

lost my mobile phone,” said Munni.

The victims said that the men had a close knit nexus. Often they did not mind

“passing” them on to other people for money and did not reveal their HIV status.

The victims are easy prey. The majority of women living with HIV are abandoned

by their families. Others are fighting emotional, social and economic problems.

Because it is difficult to conceal HIV status for long, they are ostracised.

They succumb to the advances of people, who want to take advantage of them, said

Manoj Kumar, a businessman from Punjab.

Manoj’s case is tragic. His wife had acquired HIV and he contracted it from her.

“She was victimised by a group of technicians and counsellors,” he alleged. The

couple ultimately divorced when interference from the counsellors became

unbearable, Manoj claims.

The men who abused HIV patients were well aware that the women were acutely

vulnerable. Rani (name changed), a commercial sex worker, revealed that one

technician wanted her to procure girls for him. Often he would stalk her. She is

philosophical about the abuse. She explains that being poor and living with HIV,

she does not mind having unsafe sex with anyone if they so insist.

In another case, Neetu (name changed) did not collect the report of baseline

tests two years ago since the technicians asked her to come to a secluded place

in Chandigarh to collect the reports. Two other girls narrate a similar

encounter at hospitals in Amritsar and Panchkula.

The response from the medical community was one of disbelief, especially against

the backdrop of the fact that the abuse was widespread. “I am totally floored

and shocked to hear this,” said Vanita Gupta, Joint Project Director, Chandigarh

AIDS Control Society, Chandigarh. “It is our attempt not to harass people living

with HIV. The issue needs proper investigation.”

People working with HIV, however, hint at the problem. P. Kaushalya, president,

Positive Women’s Network, India spoke to MAIL TODAY from Chennai stating that

the cases of molestation of the women living with HIV had come to their notice

from different parts of the country, including Tamil Nadu, Bihar, UP and Assam.

“We will launch case studies in Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana to gather

evidences to check the menace,” Kaushalya said.

Dr Ajay Wanchu, incharge of the Immune Deficiencies Department, PGIMER, said,

“We will not spare anyone if we learn that they are exploiting patients.”

vikas.kahol@...

Vikas Kahol

Special Correspondent, Mail Today (The India Today Group)

Chandigarh

Tel: +91-99888-88030

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