Police at the cutting edge of AIDS treatment
Print Edition
WHEN police officer Pan Lin comes home from work, his wife tells him to take off his uniform and wash his hands before hugging his children. She often asks him whether he has any open wounds.
Pan, 36, works at the Likang Education and Correction Institute in Beijing’s Daxing District, managing a team in charge of inmates with HIV/AIDS.
Likang receives around 200 HIV-positive inmates a year, and currently has 50 such people.
Anyone arrested on drug-related charges must be tested for HIV/AIDS and those who test positive are transferred to places like Likang to serve their sentences and receive treatment.
Pan said the biggest challenge for his team of 17 officers was not infection, but overcoming their fears.
At first he was too scared to touch inmates and would hesitate before any interaction.
“I thought about my wife and kids before I touched them at the beginning,” he recalled. “But now I am actually OK.”
Dai Jingping, director of the institute’s medicine department, said: “Police and doctors are safe from infection as long as they have no open wounds.”
However, this does not mean there are no risks of infection.
Surgeon Zhang Runsheng insists on a small surgery team when a patient is HIV positive. Surgical equipment, such as scissors and knives, are not allowed to be directly handed to doctors or nurses during operations. “A tiny cut or a small amount of infected bodily fluid, these are our occupational hazards,” he said.
Chief nurse Cao Yanping recalls one frightening incident involving a colleague.
“After administering an injection, the cover of the syringe broke and she got pricked by the needle,” she said.
After a course of antiviral medicine she was given the all-clear, but it was a sharp reminder of the risks in working with HIV-positive inmates.
“That time it happened to be her. It may be me next time,” she said.
Pan said many inmates did not realize they were infected before they were tested and many struggle to come to terms with the news.
They are often difficult to manage, and many attempt to harm or kill themselves.
Zhou Chuanlong, 54, deputy leader of the police team, said many inmates “act out” and refuse to engage in activities, such as morning exercise.
“They say ‘how can you be so mean to me? I’m dying,”’ Zhou said. “I’ve also heard someone threaten my colleague by saying ‘I’ll infect you — then you will understand my pain’.”
Zhou, a police officer for the past 30 years, said: “AIDS is nothing to be afraid of if you know enough about the disease. They are just human beings who need care.”
Each inmate has a designated police officer, doctor and nurse, and they attend counselling and rehabilitation sessions, among other activities, to improve their mental and physical wellbeing, relieve stress and help them regain confidence.
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