It
isn’t the fever and chikungunya symptoms that perturb(anxious,चिंतित) Ompal Singh so much. Resting in his
one-room flat in a nondescript colony in Mandoli, north-east Delhi, the
50-year-old agonises(worry,व्याकुल) more about his persistent(continuous,निरंतर) cough and weight loss. He has lost seven
kilograms in just two months and his immunity levels are dropping — alarming
given his condition.
Meanwhile, his wife,
Anita Kumari (48), has become addicted to painkillers. She cannot straighten
her back or stretch her arms. She knows it is the big lump on her back causing
all the pain and doctors have advised her surgery. But the doctors keep
referring her to other hospitals, she says.
Both Mr. Singh and Ms.
Kumari tested HIV positive in 2006 — after she contracted(reduce,संकुचित) the virus during a
premature delivery-linked blood transfusion — but it is now that they have
started feeling its pinch. Especially with their jobs snatched away. “Our diet
is not the same and even treatment is suffering,” rues Mr. Singh.
Disclosure and discrimination(unfair treatment,भेदभाव)
In 2008, when the
National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) launched the Prevention of
Parent-to-Child Transmission Programme (PPCT), the husband-wife duo enlisted
with an NGO as outreach workers for the HIV awareness initiative along with 13
others. Their job was to help HIV-positive pregnant women with their medication
and monitor newborn babies. “We have seen discrimination in hospitals against
HIV-positive women from such close quarters. Doctors would refuse to carry out
C-section, nurses hurl abuses even while the woman is crying in pain,” says Ms.
Kumari. “Our role was to help such women.”
However, in December last
year, the scheme was abruptly(suddenly,अचानक) ended citing(mentioning,उल्लेखित) lack of funds, rendering(give,देना) the outreach workers
jobless. This, when all 15 workers are themselves HIV-positive and on
antiretroviral therapy. In order to effectively carry out their roles as
outreach workers, these individuals were asked to disclose their condition to
the community and their families at the risk of social marginalisation. With
people around them knowing about their HIV status, these workers are now not
only struggling to get alternative employment but have had to move house.
“Earlier, we were staying in different colonies in east Delhi. But with no
money and neighbours boycotting us, eight of us are now living in the same
locality to help each other,” says Rajesh Kumari, another outreach worker, who
has been working as a maid for the past three months.
In the lurch
The outreach workers have
tried it all to have their voices heard — from writing letters to the Health
Ministry to protesting at Jantar Mantar. The PPCT scheme was halted in Delhi,
Himachal Pradesh and Punjab at the same time but Punjab restarted the scheme in
June. “When Punjab can, why can’t Delhi and Himachal Pradesh,” asks Anjali
Singh, showing a dossier of letters written to Ministers, officials and protest
clippings.
“Budget cuts started in
2013 under the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) regime; the NDA (National
Democratic Alliance) government may end it completely in their term. Whatever
was achieved in all these years is being undone,” says Ganesh Acharya of Mumbai
AIDS Forum.
On August 16, these
workers met Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal for help. The
commission subsequently(after,बाद में) wrote to the Delhi State AIDS Control
Society (DSACS) and was informed that the latter had no NACO funding to support
these persons. “This forced me to write to Health Minister J.P Nadda about the
issue,” says Ms. Maliwal. Mr. Nadda replied stating that he will personally
look into the matter.
“He should do something,
or else give us permission to kill ourselves,” says Kanhaiya Kumar, one of the
affected. It’s fingers crossed for the group of 15, for now.
courtesy:the hindu
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