Reluctance to treat HIV patient draws family’s ire

MN Report

Karachi: The medical staff at the city’s Civil Hospital’s Medical Unit-III reportedly refused to attend to an HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infected patient last Monday owing to fears of getting afflicted with the deadly virus.

Shahab, a family member of a 23-year-old HIV-postive patient, Karman, son of Hazrat Khan, said patient was brought to the hospital’s Medical Unit-III about five days back, but the duty staff fearing they might be afflicted with the dreaded virus refused to attend to the patient. Though the matter was reported to the in charge of Medical Unit-III, the patient’s familiy members did not receive any positive response from him, he complained.  

He said due to non-cooperative attitude of the medical staff, the patient’s cousin has been changing drips or administrating injection to him. The ward administration was reluctant even to shift the patient to the hospital’s isolation ward, he claimed.

Divulging into details, he said that Kamran, who was suffering from fever for the last few months, was initially admitted to Lyari General Hospital (LGH) for treatment about 15 days ago.

However, when he was diagnosed HIV virus patient after a test conducted at a private laboratory, the LGH’s administration advised the family to shift the patient to the CHK for better treatment facilities, but the CHK’s medical staff were reluctant to attend to the patient.

When contacted, the CHK’s medical superintendent Prof Dr M. Saeed Quraishi said necessary instructions have been issued to the concerned medical staff for providing proper treatment to the HIV-infected patient. He said that the CHK’s additional medical superintendent, who met the patient’s family, had assured that no negligence on the part of medical staff will be tolerated concerning the patient’s care.