HIV/AIDS sufferers hit by fear and ignorance
Source: Xinhua |
May 18, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PEOPLE in China living with HIV and AIDS are routinely being denied medical treatment in mainstream hospitals due to fear and ignorance about the disease, according to a study released yesterday.
Based on interviews with 103 people living with HIV and 23 healthcare workers, the United Nations' International Labour Organization ILO and China's National Center for STD and AIDS Prevention and Control found that people have been refused medical care and suffered discrimination by healthcare workers.
One HIV-positive man, talking at a news conference to unveil the report - "Discrimination against People Living with HIV within Healthcare Settings in China" - recounted how he was denied medical treatment for his back problem because of his HIV status in hospitals in Tianjin and Beijing.
He sobbed as he said he would kill himself if the anxiety from discrimination became unbearable.
The 42-year-old farmer, who declined to be identified, tested HIV-positive in 2008. Frequent hospital visits cost him his job. Later, he was repeatedly refused orthopedic surgery because he had HIV.
Without the basic surgery that could easily cure his injured lower back, the man is now partially paralyzed and can only walk with the help of crutches.
He is not alone. The report found that people living with HIV (PLHIV) in China encounter widespread difficulties in receiving medical services, despite government regulations that clearly define their medical rights and forbid discrimination.
There are currently an estimated 700,000 PLHIV in China, including about 75,000 AIDS patients. The country's guiding regulation on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS states that medical institutions should not turn away patients with HIV or refuse treatment on the grounds that a patient is infected.
The report attributes the difficulties PLHIV face in accessing medical services to a variety of factors, including perceived responsibility among medical institutions to other patients, a sense that PLHIV should be transferred to designated hospitals to better protect other patients, and the idea among hospital managements that prospective patients will go elsewhere if they know that the hospital provides services for PLHIV.
The report also states that many of the healthcare workers who were interviewed have concerns about occupational exposure to HIV and are not well aware of HIV and occupational protection measures.
Doctor Zhang Ke, who has treated HIV/AIDS patients for more than 10 years at Beijing's YouAn Hospital, home to a center for HIV/AIDS treatment, said today's doctors were so specialized that they may not know the basics of other diseases. But he dismissed the idea that doctors were too scared to treat PLHIV.
Based on interviews with 103 people living with HIV and 23 healthcare workers, the United Nations' International Labour Organization ILO and China's National Center for STD and AIDS Prevention and Control found that people have been refused medical care and suffered discrimination by healthcare workers.
One HIV-positive man, talking at a news conference to unveil the report - "Discrimination against People Living with HIV within Healthcare Settings in China" - recounted how he was denied medical treatment for his back problem because of his HIV status in hospitals in Tianjin and Beijing.
He sobbed as he said he would kill himself if the anxiety from discrimination became unbearable.
The 42-year-old farmer, who declined to be identified, tested HIV-positive in 2008. Frequent hospital visits cost him his job. Later, he was repeatedly refused orthopedic surgery because he had HIV.
Without the basic surgery that could easily cure his injured lower back, the man is now partially paralyzed and can only walk with the help of crutches.
He is not alone. The report found that people living with HIV (PLHIV) in China encounter widespread difficulties in receiving medical services, despite government regulations that clearly define their medical rights and forbid discrimination.
There are currently an estimated 700,000 PLHIV in China, including about 75,000 AIDS patients. The country's guiding regulation on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS states that medical institutions should not turn away patients with HIV or refuse treatment on the grounds that a patient is infected.
The report attributes the difficulties PLHIV face in accessing medical services to a variety of factors, including perceived responsibility among medical institutions to other patients, a sense that PLHIV should be transferred to designated hospitals to better protect other patients, and the idea among hospital managements that prospective patients will go elsewhere if they know that the hospital provides services for PLHIV.
The report also states that many of the healthcare workers who were interviewed have concerns about occupational exposure to HIV and are not well aware of HIV and occupational protection measures.
Doctor Zhang Ke, who has treated HIV/AIDS patients for more than 10 years at Beijing's YouAn Hospital, home to a center for HIV/AIDS treatment, said today's doctors were so specialized that they may not know the basics of other diseases. But he dismissed the idea that doctors were too scared to treat PLHIV.
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