Hyderabad, November 15: On testing positive for the dreaded AIDS disease, 35-year-old Satyanarayana’s (name changed) hopes of a happy and healthy life sank. Hailing from a small village in Andhra Pradesh, he started living a life of isolation not knowing what to do next.
But he soon came across an ad in a monthly Telugu magazine which he considered as a blessing in disguise.
The ad was by a doctor who claimed to cure AIDS. Satyanarayana wasted no time in packing his bags and heading to Chikkadpally in Hyderabad, where the clinic was located. The “magical” doctor then made him believe that he would turn HIV negative in three months if he used his special Ayurvedic medicines and also instructed him to eat only curd rice. After dishing out around Rs 10,000, Satyanarayana went back with the medicines and a ray of hope.
But after three months, his health had only worsened with swelling in body parts, frequent vomitings and extreme fatigue. When the helpless patient confronted the doctor again, he simply shrugged it off blaming Satyanarayana for not taking the medicines on time.
Incidents like these are not isolated cases. Burdened under psychological pressure and the fear of social stigma, HIV positive patients live in a confused and vulnerable state. And cashing in on this weakness are the increasing number of quacks and fake doctors who claim to cure the disease. Surprisingly, their ads appear even on television channels.
B.V.Subba Reddy, joint director, AP State AIDS Control Society (APSACS) says “It is an established fact that AIDS cannot be cured. The government is in a position to look after all the AIDS patients who require anti retroviral (ART) treatment.
The sooner the treatment is started, the better it is for the patient.” Subba Reddy also says that APSACS is actively working on creating awareness about the importance of approaching the right sources for treatment.
Approaching quacks or cheat doctors would only detoriate the patients health, he adds. “Nobody knows whether these people are qualified doctors and what drugs they use on patients. Not all patients are supposed to be given the same treatment,” he cautions.
Not only the poor but city-bred educated people also are falling into the traps of these quacks. A city bred educated couple, Asha and Ravi (names changed), both HIV positive, also knocked on the door of one such dubious quack after seeing his ad on a channel. The quack not only encouraged them to take his miracle medicines but also discouraged them from taking the government prescribed treatment which according to him was a waste. After fleecing the couple of more than `1.5 lakh, the quack promised to heal them in a couple of months. But realising that the medicines were doing more harm than good, they approached the government prescribed centres and are currently undergoing ART treatment.
Mondira Jaisimha, senior advocacy director of Heroes Project which works for the welfare of HIV positive patients, feels that awareness about the disease cannot be linked with particular sections of a society. “It is not necessary that highly educated or financially well-off people are completely aware of the disease. Similarly it is not right to say that the rural or uneducated people are unaware of the disease. What matters is an open mind and liberal thinking to understand the issue.” she observes. She strongly feels that increasing the efforts on AIDS awareness on a large scale is an ideal way to put a stop to such quacks and fake doctors.
“I have seen such ads not only in Hyderabad but in other major cities like Mumbai also. These centres need to be stopped but there is no clarity on who would act on them – whether it’s the health, police or the judiciary. In my opinion, right from the grassroots level, people should be made to understand that the HIV positive patients are supposed to consult only National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) identified ICTC centres.” she says.
–Agencies–