Woes for AIDS patients

Statesman News Service

MALDA, April 9: Swami Divyananda Maharaj, chief of Malda Ram Krishna Mission, today said that Kolkata is not a proper place for the treatment of poor AIDS patients. Citing an example, he said: "The doctor of a reputed medical institution in Kolkata recently handed over a long prescription to a poor and illiterate patient from Malda, advising more than 10 medical tests." "The patient, a woman, returned from Kolkata and showed me the prescription, seeking medicines. I was taken aback and requested the doctors of Malda district hospital to conduct tests on the patient as advised the doctors in Kolkata. The doctors have conducted the tests and confirmed presence of AIDS virus in the woman."Divyananda Maharaj said the woman's husband, who is also an HIV + patient, was admitted in the same medical institution in Kolkata and that he too has returned here complaining negligence on the part of doctors in Kolkata. The couple are the residents of Sahapur in Old Malda block. With the help of the NGOs, especially the Malda RKM, they had gone to Kolkata for treatment. It may be recalled that one of the family members of the couple was sacked by her employer after it came to light that she belonged to an AIDS-hit family. The elderly woman then sought the help of the Malda RKM to save the lives of her family members.