Andhra Pradesh hospitals slammed in NYT’s AIDS story
MGM Hospital in Warangal and other state hospitals have come under scanner because of their discriminatory policies towards AIDS patients
WARANGAL: The 1,000-bed government- run MGM Hospital in Warangal and other state hospitals have come under the lens in a story that appeared in The New York Times (NYT) due to their discriminatory policies towards AIDS patients.
The story titled ‘AIDS patients in Andhra Pradesh find fear at state hospitals’ published on April 2 by the globally known daily, has recounted the experience of a 38-year-old HIV positive patient when he approached the MGM Hospital for treatment in December 2013.
It claims that the HIV positive patient wanted the hospital staff to get the build-up of pus removed from his neck but was reportedly shooed away following a routine blood test before surgery.
“What the NYT featured is a true story but it is not an isolated case,” lamented Dr Achanta Vivekananda, retired director of Medical Education (Academics) and former Kakatiya Medical College principal.
Now volunteering with the Peddapendayala-based Karunalaya Community Care Centre for HIV/AIDs in Warangal, Dr Vivekananda claimed that he had referred a 38-year-old HIV patient to MGM hospital for surgical removal of gangrene in his scrotum.
“He was admitted in the second unit of MGM Hospital’s Surgery Ward and is waiting since the last two days for surgery,” said Dr Vivekananda, who also featured in his NYT story for his contribution in battling HIV/AIDS.
He is quoted in the NYT story, as saying, “Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, and this issue represents a compromise of ethics that should leave people outraged.”
When contacted, Dr K. Mallesham, ex-Indian Medical Association (IMA) district president and head of MGM Hospital’s Anti- Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre, denied discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients.
“The cases of refusal to perform surgeries on AIDS patients have come down in MGM Hospital. They are now being treated by surgeons,” said Dr Mallesham.
It is significant to note that that due to the fall in their CD4 count (shows immunity power), HIV/AIDS patients have a poor recovery rate when surgeries are performed on them.