Govt hospital staff in UP identify HIV-positive patient, refuse aid

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Govt hospital staff in UP identify HIV-positive patient, refuse aid

Vijay Pratap Singh

Posted: May 22, 2009 at 0345 hrs IST

Allahabad In open violation of the guidelines of National AIDS Control

Organization (NACO), the staff of state-owned Swaroop Rani Nehru hospital, a

part of Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, brazenly pasted an `HIV' sign on the

wall behind the bed of a patient and refused him treatment.

The HIV positive man from Pratappur block, suffering from acute infection, was

brought to the SRN hospital on Tuesday. The doctors initially refused to admit

him, said sources. They relented only after the Allahabad Network for People

Living with HIV Positive (ANP Plus) took up the matter with the district

magistrate and the hospital administration.

The next morning, the staff wrote " HIV " on a piece of paper and pasted it on the

wall behind his bed in surgical emergency ward.

When the attendants of patient objected and reported the matter to ANP Plus, the

sign was removed on the instruction of Dr Amitabh Upadhaya, anti-retroviral

officer of SRN hospital.

The staff then wrote ART (Anti-retroviral Therapy) on the wall and tied a red

ribbon, the monogram of NACO, on the drip stand, said the relatives of the

patient.

Further, the doctors allegedly refused to treat the patient, saying proper

medical kits were not available in the hospital.

The attendants of the patient and the members of NGO reported the matter to

District Magistrate Rajeev Agrawal and Chief Medical Officer Dr PK Sinha.

" We were asked to purchase gloves and other items from outside. We also had to

do the dressings of the patient, " said Mangal Singh, the attendant.

On Thursday morning, fed up with the antipathy of the hospital staff and

doctors, the family got the patient discharged and decided to go to the All

India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Delhi.

The Superintendent-in-Chief of SRN hospital, Dr Shradhha Dwivedi, said she has

ordered a departmental inquiry into the matter. She also said she had provided

five medical kits for the treatment of the patient.

Sanjit Kumar Sharma, an office-bearer of ANP Plus, said: " It is an offence to

refuse treatment to an HIV positive patient and it a more serious offence to

identify him as HIV positive. The behaviour of doctors and hospital staff was

uncalled for and strict action must be taken against those responsible. "

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/govt-hospital-staff-in-up-identify-hivpo\

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