Save PLHA from false treatment promises

[Guest guest]

Dear Readers,

As a physician working in the area of HIV/AIDS, I feel quite concerned about the

recent increase in advertisements that promote herbal remedies and promise to

cure HIV. My concern has been heightened after hearing reports from my own

patients about a report seen on the TV channel “TV9”.

According to the report a person by the name of Moideen from Madikeri

District(In Karnataka state) claims that he can cure HIV with the help of some

medicines that have been prepared by him.

Many PLHA who have gone to him after seeing the report have been advised to stop

HAART.

They have been assured that the treatment prepared by him will cure them of HIV.

Some PLHA who have been on HAART for years and have been doing well are now

considering going to Madikeri for treatment. At our

center (Freedom Foundation) we do counsel the PLHA and advise them on these

matters. But sometimes the promise of a cure is too hard to resist.

It is not that I do not respect natural remedies or the age-old practices of

Ayurveda. But there is a difference between trained Ayurvedic physicians (even

if it is the training that has come down through the generations) and the kind

of people who today claim to

have turned ‘healers’ overnight.

Before any treatment can claim to cure an ailment, today there are various

methods that can be used to scientifically prove the benefits of the drug. This

is not possible just with allopathic medicines but also with other forms of

medicine.

In the era of free highly active anti-retro-viral treatment (HAART), such

practices have wider implications. Many ‘healers’ ask the PLHA to stop HAART

while they are on the herbal remedies. During this time, there is a possibility

that the virus will replicate and thus also lead to resistant mutations.

At the national level this means that we are going to have more PLHA who could

start becoming drug resistant and would need protease inhibitors or other newer

drugs.

For the individual PLHA who takes the natural remedies that are not

scientifically proven there is the chance that the virus will start multiplying

and then the CD-4 will also start dropping. Very soon from a feeling of

well-being, there will be a sudden deterioration in the person’s health.

Most PLHA are lead to believe that these ‘natural remedies’ do not have any

steroids added in them. It is not necessary to actually add steroids. But many

plants themselves have steroidal properties. When

given in the natural form, they do not act as fast as the allopathic steroid

forms. Hence the effects of these medicines take a long time to develop and

become visible.

To my physician colleagues, I would like to make them aware that many PLHA may

be already taking these medicines. They may not report it to us allopathic

practitioners because we may caution them against it.

My aim is not to point fingers at any form of treatment. If there is a medicine

that proves to be a one-time cure, both the organization that I work for and I

myself will be among the first to rejoice. But

these medicines need to be tested under controlled conditions first. Otherwise

many innocent people will be cheated not just of their money, but their health

also.

I urge those who have the power to probe into such matters to do so. Otherwise

we may soon start looking at an HIV epidemic where a major percentage of PLHA

are either drug resistant or dealing with severe

opportunistic infections.

Dr. Nirmala Skill

Freedom Foundation

Ph.No: 25435231/25435232

E-mail : freedomg2@...