Request for helping the orphans of HIV in Punjab
This is to request the readers of this blog once again to help the HIV orphans.Right now we have 9 orphans under our care.Two are taken care off by one of the doctor doing his residency in Pittsberg for one year.Help for others will make life of these little flowers more fragerent.
The cost of traetment of one child is barely 12 dollars a month-you can add as many months to their lives as you wish.
The cheques are to be sent in the name of AIDS Awarenes Group,Amritsar.(Account payee) or in my name that is DR.Rakesh Bharti,Amritsar(A/Payee).
Detail stories of these HIV patients you will keep reading thru the eyes of an intern PK from USA,now a days with us.
Looking forward to your help
Dr.Rakesh Bharti
Friday, June 23, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
AAG, AmritsarAIDS Awareness Group, Amritsar
AAG, AmritsarAIDS Awareness Group, Amritsar
Visit to A HIV victim's Family
Here is an account by a researcher from US now a days with us about her visit to a HIVer's family including a HIV born growing boy
My main objective in Tarn Taarn was to visit the home of an HIV patient, B. Singh. I first met this gentleman in the clinic. He is a farmer and lives in a village right outside of the city of Tarn Taarn. He mostly grows rice and vegetables.
His wife contracted HIV/AIDS during her pregnancy from a blood transfusion and subsequently, in her undetected stage, passed the virus on to her son. She gave birth to another son a few years later, but her second son luckily remained free of the virus, by virtue of nature. Eight years later she suddenly became very sick. A month before her death, she was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Her husband, the gentleman who I visited today, then got himself tested and found out he was positive. At first, he was worried that his death was imminent. He shared his HIV status with his best friend, who was suffering from a terminal illness. His friend instructed him to immediately share his diagnosis with his family. B. Singh gathered as much information as he could, getting studies and texts translated from American scientific journals to Punjabi, to be fully equipped to deal with the virus. He has been seeing Dr. Bharti for a few years and has been successful on his antiretroviral treatment. His son is also healthy, though I noticed a stark difference in the level of shyness between him and his younger, HIV negative brother. I asked the older brother if he plays any sports at school and his father replied that he plays cricket and football. The son himself was too shy to talk to me directly, though he did sneak a few smiles my way.
When I first arrived at B. Singh’s house, they offered me a glass of coke. It was hot so I happily accepted. Because it was my first visit to a patient’s home, I was nervous about what questions I should and should not ask him and his family and I became lost in thought for a few minutes, holding my glass of coke until B. Singh had gathered his entire family. After a few minutes, I noticed that B. Singh’s brother kept looking at my glass and wasn’t sipping his cup of coke also. The thought struck me that perhaps his brother was thinking that I wasn’t drinking the soda because B. Singh also would have one time used the glass. I immediately took a sip of the soda, and his brother followed in action. One of the first comments B. Singh made once his whole family was gathered was to point out to his family, especially the sister-in-law who knows his diagnosis, that they will be ok if they use the same utensils, plates, and cups as he uses. When I asked B. Singh if he had any problems disclosing his HIV status to his family, he said no, his family was completely understanding. But after noticing the slight tension in his family, I felt that though some members of his family are open and accept what B. Singh tells them he learns from his doctors, there is still apprehension on the part of some members of his internal family. The stigma that HIV patients such as B. Singh have to deal with does not go away with simply explaining the facts. It takes conviction and faith in the message to fully deal with the superstitions and fears which predominate society.
I asked B. Singh if he knows any others in the village who are HIV positive. He said yes, but he does not disclose to them his status. Rather, in some indirect method tells them that he has a friend of a friend of a friend who goes to Amritsar to see Dr. Bharti and is taking medicine and is doing just fine. It is through this by-word-of-mouth relay system that many patients come into contact with the HIV physicians in Amritsar. I attribute this to a lack of faith in the medical establishment, because there is a wide continuum in quality and standards of care and because patient trust is largely developed from personal experience. But most significantly, as B. Singh told me, patients do not go to get treatment because they do not know that medical treatment exists. The amount of awareness about HIV, especially in villages, is weak and largely limited to feeding a culture of fear about the disease. Quite surprisingly, even though every village has qualified health workers working within its parameters, even many of them do not know that there is life-sustaining medicine available for HIV positive people.
Another significant hurdle to care exists in medical quacks. While alternative systems of medicine (alternatives to allopathic medicine) are regularly practice in India, such as homeopathic medicine and ayurvedic medicine, these medical systems have not developed adequate treatments for HIV/AIDS. Moreover, in many villages illicit quackery thrives on people’s faith and superstitions in the form of soothsayers and potion-makers. In the case of HIV, patients who fall into the trap of taking treatment from these medical quacks end up wasting their financial resources and end up delaying or not receiving necessary allopathic medical treatment. I asked B. Singh if he had taken any "desi dwaiyaa" from a quack and he said yes, before he had gone to the doctors in Amritsar, he had seen an ad in the newspaper from a person in Kerala in southern India who claimed to have a cure to HIV. He paid the 11,000 Rupees (a massive investment!) and had the medicine couriered to his home. After a few weeks he realized the medicines were not improving his condition and he decided to pursue the physicians in Amritsar. I have heard of other patients in the clinic who have also fallen prey to this Kerala medical scam and unfortunately patients throughout India are falling prey to this get-rich-quick scam.
Before I left, I asked B. Singh what he thinks about his future. He said he has thought about getting re-married but he knows he has to marry a woman who is HIV positive also. Then I asked him what he thinks about his older son’s future. He became pensive for a moment, and then replied, "We are just handling this day-by-day, making sure he grows strong. But yes, I have thought about his marriage. In five or six years, we will find a HIV positive girl for him. It will be hard, but I will do it." As I was leaving B. Singh’s home, I waved goodbye to his son and thought about his life story. His birth was defined by HIV, his childhood has been defined by HIV, and his marriage, a rite of passage dear to the heart of many South Asians, will also be defined by HIV. HIV has the potential to alter a patient’s life course more than most diseases. In a village off the beaten path to Tarn Taarn, HIV is taking a large role in shaping the lives within a small village home.
---
Visit to A HIV victim's Family
Here is an account by a researcher from US now a days with us about her visit to a HIVer's family including a HIV born growing boy
My main objective in Tarn Taarn was to visit the home of an HIV patient, B. Singh. I first met this gentleman in the clinic. He is a farmer and lives in a village right outside of the city of Tarn Taarn. He mostly grows rice and vegetables.
His wife contracted HIV/AIDS during her pregnancy from a blood transfusion and subsequently, in her undetected stage, passed the virus on to her son. She gave birth to another son a few years later, but her second son luckily remained free of the virus, by virtue of nature. Eight years later she suddenly became very sick. A month before her death, she was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Her husband, the gentleman who I visited today, then got himself tested and found out he was positive. At first, he was worried that his death was imminent. He shared his HIV status with his best friend, who was suffering from a terminal illness. His friend instructed him to immediately share his diagnosis with his family. B. Singh gathered as much information as he could, getting studies and texts translated from American scientific journals to Punjabi, to be fully equipped to deal with the virus. He has been seeing Dr. Bharti for a few years and has been successful on his antiretroviral treatment. His son is also healthy, though I noticed a stark difference in the level of shyness between him and his younger, HIV negative brother. I asked the older brother if he plays any sports at school and his father replied that he plays cricket and football. The son himself was too shy to talk to me directly, though he did sneak a few smiles my way.
When I first arrived at B. Singh’s house, they offered me a glass of coke. It was hot so I happily accepted. Because it was my first visit to a patient’s home, I was nervous about what questions I should and should not ask him and his family and I became lost in thought for a few minutes, holding my glass of coke until B. Singh had gathered his entire family. After a few minutes, I noticed that B. Singh’s brother kept looking at my glass and wasn’t sipping his cup of coke also. The thought struck me that perhaps his brother was thinking that I wasn’t drinking the soda because B. Singh also would have one time used the glass. I immediately took a sip of the soda, and his brother followed in action. One of the first comments B. Singh made once his whole family was gathered was to point out to his family, especially the sister-in-law who knows his diagnosis, that they will be ok if they use the same utensils, plates, and cups as he uses. When I asked B. Singh if he had any problems disclosing his HIV status to his family, he said no, his family was completely understanding. But after noticing the slight tension in his family, I felt that though some members of his family are open and accept what B. Singh tells them he learns from his doctors, there is still apprehension on the part of some members of his internal family. The stigma that HIV patients such as B. Singh have to deal with does not go away with simply explaining the facts. It takes conviction and faith in the message to fully deal with the superstitions and fears which predominate society.
I asked B. Singh if he knows any others in the village who are HIV positive. He said yes, but he does not disclose to them his status. Rather, in some indirect method tells them that he has a friend of a friend of a friend who goes to Amritsar to see Dr. Bharti and is taking medicine and is doing just fine. It is through this by-word-of-mouth relay system that many patients come into contact with the HIV physicians in Amritsar. I attribute this to a lack of faith in the medical establishment, because there is a wide continuum in quality and standards of care and because patient trust is largely developed from personal experience. But most significantly, as B. Singh told me, patients do not go to get treatment because they do not know that medical treatment exists. The amount of awareness about HIV, especially in villages, is weak and largely limited to feeding a culture of fear about the disease. Quite surprisingly, even though every village has qualified health workers working within its parameters, even many of them do not know that there is life-sustaining medicine available for HIV positive people.
Another significant hurdle to care exists in medical quacks. While alternative systems of medicine (alternatives to allopathic medicine) are regularly practice in India, such as homeopathic medicine and ayurvedic medicine, these medical systems have not developed adequate treatments for HIV/AIDS. Moreover, in many villages illicit quackery thrives on people’s faith and superstitions in the form of soothsayers and potion-makers. In the case of HIV, patients who fall into the trap of taking treatment from these medical quacks end up wasting their financial resources and end up delaying or not receiving necessary allopathic medical treatment. I asked B. Singh if he had taken any "desi dwaiyaa" from a quack and he said yes, before he had gone to the doctors in Amritsar, he had seen an ad in the newspaper from a person in Kerala in southern India who claimed to have a cure to HIV. He paid the 11,000 Rupees (a massive investment!) and had the medicine couriered to his home. After a few weeks he realized the medicines were not improving his condition and he decided to pursue the physicians in Amritsar. I have heard of other patients in the clinic who have also fallen prey to this Kerala medical scam and unfortunately patients throughout India are falling prey to this get-rich-quick scam.
Before I left, I asked B. Singh what he thinks about his future. He said he has thought about getting re-married but he knows he has to marry a woman who is HIV positive also. Then I asked him what he thinks about his older son’s future. He became pensive for a moment, and then replied, "We are just handling this day-by-day, making sure he grows strong. But yes, I have thought about his marriage. In five or six years, we will find a HIV positive girl for him. It will be hard, but I will do it." As I was leaving B. Singh’s home, I waved goodbye to his son and thought about his life story. His birth was defined by HIV, his childhood has been defined by HIV, and his marriage, a rite of passage dear to the heart of many South Asians, will also be defined by HIV. HIV has the potential to alter a patient’s life course more than most diseases. In a village off the beaten path to Tarn Taarn, HIV is taking a large role in shaping the lives within a small village home.
---
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
AAG, AmritsarAIDS Awareness Group, Amritsar
AAG, AmritsarAIDS Awareness Group, Amritsar
Read this which is a quote from an intern working with us these days.She is PK from USA.
Amritsar's Positive People Network
June 11,2006-This afternoon I had the privilege of sitting in on the very first meeting of the Amritsar Positive People’s Network. Dr. Bharti and his colleagues are organizing their patients so that the positive patients can have some leverage and negotiate lower drug prices and other medical necessities for themselves. This organization will also create a centralized location and resource for HIV issues in Amritsar and will allow for greater networking with other national and international HIV/AIDS NGO’s.
The meeting was small but reflected a hodgepodge of society. The future president of the newly formed organization is a nurse in a local hospital. The secretary is a teacher. The treasurer is a farmer. Some of them have disclosed to their family, neighbors, and workplace their HIV status and some have not. One of the members today, after four years of seeing Dr. Bharti for his healthcare, disclosed his real name to his doctor, but only because as signatories to the Positive People’s Network he needed to submit official paperwork which would have disclosed his real name. While watching him disclose his real identity to his physician, I felt like the patient felt a sense of liberation, that he finally could be known by his own name. But I understand why he had hid his identity for so long. The stigma is so intense, that one can’t know who to trust.This leads me to the story of one of the patients who came in this morning for a checkup. I’ll identify him as R. Singh. (Singh is another ubiquitous last name in this part of the world.) His wife had tested positive for HIV a few months ago and started taking anti-retrovirals under Dr. B’s care. She succumbed to an opportunistic infection of cryptococcal meningitis in March. Before she had passed, her husband and family had mentally tortured her about her disease and she had to resort back to her own mother and father in her last days. She passed away on March 6, 2006.
From hearing the stories of the few women who I’ve met so far, it appears that they often are blamed for bringing the disease into the family unit, even though more than likely it comes from the man’s own extra-marital exploits, as men have a lot more freedom of movement in South Asian society.
After R. Singh had gathered his medicines and had his blood taken for a T-Cell Count, his father came into the room alone to ask the doctor if his son could get married. Dr. B explained to him that if he were to get re-married, he could only get married to a woman who is also HIV positive. Dr. B framed the issue as a question of the problems that would develop if his new wife were to become infected, rather than an issue of keeping the infection from spreading. I thought it was a proper response, as one of the issues that Positive People face is that society loses confidence on Positive People’s right to lead a normal life. So perhaps, one day, if R. Singh finds the right person, he should get re-married and have a spouse to help him raise his 4 year old son. But Dr. B did let R. Singh’s father know that if he is to get married, it could only be with someone who is HIV positive, or to whom he has disclosed his positive status and would be willing to be in a marriage of abstinence. He also said that though it may take some compromise on things that traditionally many Punjabi’s look at when making marital alliances, such as caste or class, people who are HIV positive do get married and do live normal lives.
It was encouraging to see the hope that many of the Positive People who came to the clinic today felt about themselves and their health. It has been eye opening to meet these patients and to see their assurance in themselves and their future. HIV does not mean death. HIV also means life.
# posted by pk : 6:39 AM 3 comments
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Day 1 In The Clinic
This morning I sat in with Dr. Bharti, the local physician known for treating HIV/AIDS throughout the area. In 1993 he identified the first HIV case in the Amritsar district and he has been steadily seeing a large number of patients since then. Although I have exchanged emails and talked with Dr. Bharti via phone, today was the first time I met him and I was struck most by how gently and with understated empathy he dealt with his patients. Because HIV/AIDS is more than just a physical disease but also reflects the pathologies of society, empathy and understanding are central aspects in developing the trust of these patients who face daily betrayals by society because of the stigma of their HIV status. I hope in the next few weeks I can pick up some lessons from Dr. Bharti on how to become a physician with whom patients can feel comfortable and open.The first woman who came in this morning looked just like my grandmother. She was rugged, looked like any other elderly Punjabi Sikh woman, wore a chunni (scarf) on her head and was draped in a kirpan. Dr. Bharti referred to her as MataJi, because of her age. She had journeyed from her village to pick up treatment for her husband, who is HIV positive. He had been a sevadaar for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandak Committee and they have been married for more than 40 years. He was first diagnosed in 2001 after developing TB and hepatitis concurrently but was infuriated at learning the diagnosis and did not believe that the doctors were right because “he had done nothing wrong”, as she put it. Only a few months ago, after developing a case of herpes zoster and having his T cell count down to a reported 70, did her husband accept that he might be HIV positive. He is a drug addict and most likely picked up the disease through dirty needles. Drug addiction is rampant in Punjab. This past week Guru Nanak Dev University issued a report that roughly 75% of the youth in Punjab between the ages of 16-35 are addicted to drugs, primarily in the rural areas. [LINK] I assume the rates are less overwhelming amongst the elderly, but this gentleman’s case reveals that drug addiction exists in all strata of Punjab’s society. His wife had made the long trek from her village to pick up 10 days of medicine for her husband. She was most concerned about whether these medicines would help him. She explained how he was deathly thin, had ongoing diarrhea, and that his care was all-consuming. She appeared very distressed as she explained her husband’s situation and the enormous toll his disease was taking on her finances. The anti-retroviral drugs that she came to pick up cost roughly 500 Rupees. If he does not take these drugs, he has certain death. If he takes these drugs continually, he can potentially live a normal life. To compound the situation, this gentleman must also take other medicines to control the opportunistic diseases he’s picked up. For most rural people in Punjab, these medications create an enormous financial toll. I sensed from the gentleman’s wife that she felt if there was no hope for him, she did not want to expend all of their financial resources. Her concern is normal for anyone having to juggle the burdens of hopelessness and limited resources.Before she left, she explained that she had also developed a case of herpes zoster recently. Dr. B immediately took this as an opportunity to encourage her also to get tested. He asked her when they had their last sexual contact and she answered six months ago. This was a delicate situation I have been curious about for awhile. How does one ask a woman, especially a traditional and uneducated woman, about sex in a culture where sex is a complete taboo topic? Dr. B. explained to me that in India even physicians of the opposite sex shun from being direct with their patients when it comes to topics of sex, so it was very amazing to see how openly he asked her “qusI Awps ivC kdo imly sI?” and to watch her very openly answer. I hope that she does follow up on getting herself tested and that she hasn’t been infected.The next patient who came in was a beautiful 25 year young woman S. Kaur. (Kaur is as common a last name here in Punjab as Smith, so I feel comfortable using her last name without breaching her confidentiality.) I couldn’t believe this young woman was infected because she appeared to be healthy and thriving. Her father had accompanied her from their village and he explained how just a few months ago she had been just bones and they had to carry her like a baby from place to place. He was so grateful to the doctor for his help in getting his daughter well. S. Kaur’s story is another typical story. Her husband is a truck-driver and most likely picked up the infection through extra-marital sexual contact during his trucking route. He is in complete denial that he has HIV and when S. Kaur started to become sick and her tests came out to be positive, he left her, even though they have a five year old child together. He offers no financial help to S. Kaur and her father and mother completely support her, even though they themselves have very little to offer. Her father explained how he asks his brothers and sisters for money to cover the costs of the S.’s anti-retrovirals. Dr. Bharti tried to investigate S.’s skills and encouraged her to find some sort of way to support herself, because HIV/AIDS is a lifetime disease and she will need to find a way so that she can continue to afford her medication. Dr. B. asked her if she would be interested in joining a newly formed Positive People’s NGO in Amritsar, but cautioned her that people might ask her if she also has HIV if she were to work for this NGO. She said she did not have the courage to say that she has HIV, despite the financial incentive. Dr. B also explored the possibility of her selling him a sheet that she embroidered and then he selling it for profit as a charity item made by an HIV positive person to support her medication fees. S. embroiders sheets for export and receives about 120 Rupees a sheet for 10 days of labor, so to support her 1000 Rupee a month medication cost, she needs much more than what she’s currently able to procure. S. appeared hopeful as she left and I had a feeling that she will take initiative to follow one of Dr. B’s suggestions on how to handle the finances of her infection.I saw three other HIV patients this morning with Dr. Bharti, but I’ll leave you with the MataJi’s and S. Kaur’s stories, because to me, they are an excellent intro into the affects of HIV/AIDS on the lives of the families of Punjab.
# posted by pk : 6:35 AM 1 comments
Read this which is a quote from an intern working with us these days.She is PK from USA.
Amritsar's Positive People Network
June 11,2006-This afternoon I had the privilege of sitting in on the very first meeting of the Amritsar Positive People’s Network. Dr. Bharti and his colleagues are organizing their patients so that the positive patients can have some leverage and negotiate lower drug prices and other medical necessities for themselves. This organization will also create a centralized location and resource for HIV issues in Amritsar and will allow for greater networking with other national and international HIV/AIDS NGO’s.
The meeting was small but reflected a hodgepodge of society. The future president of the newly formed organization is a nurse in a local hospital. The secretary is a teacher. The treasurer is a farmer. Some of them have disclosed to their family, neighbors, and workplace their HIV status and some have not. One of the members today, after four years of seeing Dr. Bharti for his healthcare, disclosed his real name to his doctor, but only because as signatories to the Positive People’s Network he needed to submit official paperwork which would have disclosed his real name. While watching him disclose his real identity to his physician, I felt like the patient felt a sense of liberation, that he finally could be known by his own name. But I understand why he had hid his identity for so long. The stigma is so intense, that one can’t know who to trust.This leads me to the story of one of the patients who came in this morning for a checkup. I’ll identify him as R. Singh. (Singh is another ubiquitous last name in this part of the world.) His wife had tested positive for HIV a few months ago and started taking anti-retrovirals under Dr. B’s care. She succumbed to an opportunistic infection of cryptococcal meningitis in March. Before she had passed, her husband and family had mentally tortured her about her disease and she had to resort back to her own mother and father in her last days. She passed away on March 6, 2006.
From hearing the stories of the few women who I’ve met so far, it appears that they often are blamed for bringing the disease into the family unit, even though more than likely it comes from the man’s own extra-marital exploits, as men have a lot more freedom of movement in South Asian society.
After R. Singh had gathered his medicines and had his blood taken for a T-Cell Count, his father came into the room alone to ask the doctor if his son could get married. Dr. B explained to him that if he were to get re-married, he could only get married to a woman who is also HIV positive. Dr. B framed the issue as a question of the problems that would develop if his new wife were to become infected, rather than an issue of keeping the infection from spreading. I thought it was a proper response, as one of the issues that Positive People face is that society loses confidence on Positive People’s right to lead a normal life. So perhaps, one day, if R. Singh finds the right person, he should get re-married and have a spouse to help him raise his 4 year old son. But Dr. B did let R. Singh’s father know that if he is to get married, it could only be with someone who is HIV positive, or to whom he has disclosed his positive status and would be willing to be in a marriage of abstinence. He also said that though it may take some compromise on things that traditionally many Punjabi’s look at when making marital alliances, such as caste or class, people who are HIV positive do get married and do live normal lives.
It was encouraging to see the hope that many of the Positive People who came to the clinic today felt about themselves and their health. It has been eye opening to meet these patients and to see their assurance in themselves and their future. HIV does not mean death. HIV also means life.
# posted by pk : 6:39 AM 3 comments
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Day 1 In The Clinic
This morning I sat in with Dr. Bharti, the local physician known for treating HIV/AIDS throughout the area. In 1993 he identified the first HIV case in the Amritsar district and he has been steadily seeing a large number of patients since then. Although I have exchanged emails and talked with Dr. Bharti via phone, today was the first time I met him and I was struck most by how gently and with understated empathy he dealt with his patients. Because HIV/AIDS is more than just a physical disease but also reflects the pathologies of society, empathy and understanding are central aspects in developing the trust of these patients who face daily betrayals by society because of the stigma of their HIV status. I hope in the next few weeks I can pick up some lessons from Dr. Bharti on how to become a physician with whom patients can feel comfortable and open.The first woman who came in this morning looked just like my grandmother. She was rugged, looked like any other elderly Punjabi Sikh woman, wore a chunni (scarf) on her head and was draped in a kirpan. Dr. Bharti referred to her as MataJi, because of her age. She had journeyed from her village to pick up treatment for her husband, who is HIV positive. He had been a sevadaar for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandak Committee and they have been married for more than 40 years. He was first diagnosed in 2001 after developing TB and hepatitis concurrently but was infuriated at learning the diagnosis and did not believe that the doctors were right because “he had done nothing wrong”, as she put it. Only a few months ago, after developing a case of herpes zoster and having his T cell count down to a reported 70, did her husband accept that he might be HIV positive. He is a drug addict and most likely picked up the disease through dirty needles. Drug addiction is rampant in Punjab. This past week Guru Nanak Dev University issued a report that roughly 75% of the youth in Punjab between the ages of 16-35 are addicted to drugs, primarily in the rural areas. [LINK] I assume the rates are less overwhelming amongst the elderly, but this gentleman’s case reveals that drug addiction exists in all strata of Punjab’s society. His wife had made the long trek from her village to pick up 10 days of medicine for her husband. She was most concerned about whether these medicines would help him. She explained how he was deathly thin, had ongoing diarrhea, and that his care was all-consuming. She appeared very distressed as she explained her husband’s situation and the enormous toll his disease was taking on her finances. The anti-retroviral drugs that she came to pick up cost roughly 500 Rupees. If he does not take these drugs, he has certain death. If he takes these drugs continually, he can potentially live a normal life. To compound the situation, this gentleman must also take other medicines to control the opportunistic diseases he’s picked up. For most rural people in Punjab, these medications create an enormous financial toll. I sensed from the gentleman’s wife that she felt if there was no hope for him, she did not want to expend all of their financial resources. Her concern is normal for anyone having to juggle the burdens of hopelessness and limited resources.Before she left, she explained that she had also developed a case of herpes zoster recently. Dr. B immediately took this as an opportunity to encourage her also to get tested. He asked her when they had their last sexual contact and she answered six months ago. This was a delicate situation I have been curious about for awhile. How does one ask a woman, especially a traditional and uneducated woman, about sex in a culture where sex is a complete taboo topic? Dr. B. explained to me that in India even physicians of the opposite sex shun from being direct with their patients when it comes to topics of sex, so it was very amazing to see how openly he asked her “qusI Awps ivC kdo imly sI?” and to watch her very openly answer. I hope that she does follow up on getting herself tested and that she hasn’t been infected.The next patient who came in was a beautiful 25 year young woman S. Kaur. (Kaur is as common a last name here in Punjab as Smith, so I feel comfortable using her last name without breaching her confidentiality.) I couldn’t believe this young woman was infected because she appeared to be healthy and thriving. Her father had accompanied her from their village and he explained how just a few months ago she had been just bones and they had to carry her like a baby from place to place. He was so grateful to the doctor for his help in getting his daughter well. S. Kaur’s story is another typical story. Her husband is a truck-driver and most likely picked up the infection through extra-marital sexual contact during his trucking route. He is in complete denial that he has HIV and when S. Kaur started to become sick and her tests came out to be positive, he left her, even though they have a five year old child together. He offers no financial help to S. Kaur and her father and mother completely support her, even though they themselves have very little to offer. Her father explained how he asks his brothers and sisters for money to cover the costs of the S.’s anti-retrovirals. Dr. Bharti tried to investigate S.’s skills and encouraged her to find some sort of way to support herself, because HIV/AIDS is a lifetime disease and she will need to find a way so that she can continue to afford her medication. Dr. B. asked her if she would be interested in joining a newly formed Positive People’s NGO in Amritsar, but cautioned her that people might ask her if she also has HIV if she were to work for this NGO. She said she did not have the courage to say that she has HIV, despite the financial incentive. Dr. B also explored the possibility of her selling him a sheet that she embroidered and then he selling it for profit as a charity item made by an HIV positive person to support her medication fees. S. embroiders sheets for export and receives about 120 Rupees a sheet for 10 days of labor, so to support her 1000 Rupee a month medication cost, she needs much more than what she’s currently able to procure. S. appeared hopeful as she left and I had a feeling that she will take initiative to follow one of Dr. B’s suggestions on how to handle the finances of her infection.I saw three other HIV patients this morning with Dr. Bharti, but I’ll leave you with the MataJi’s and S. Kaur’s stories, because to me, they are an excellent intro into the affects of HIV/AIDS on the lives of the families of Punjab.
# posted by pk : 6:35 AM 1 comments
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