I was shocked to see this news today in the Daily Prothom Alo, a newspaper that claims to have the largest circulation in BD.
The fact that 5 members of the same family were diagnosed as HIV (+)ve is something new for our country… true.. but that was not why I was shocked. (I’ll explain shortly…) Rather, it was the irresponsibility of the newspaper authority that surprised me.
First things first… Bangladesh is a country with HIV prevalence of 4% amongst the high-risk groups (i. e. among drug users, commercial sex workers etc). You can have an idea about how serious this is when you’ll know that 5% is the mark beyond which HIV prevalence is considered as pandemic stage in any country… beyond this mark, controlling the spread of infection becomes many times harder…
And yet, my personal experience ( while working as GYP-Bd ) taught me how difficult it is to convince the law-makers about the real scenario. They keep on saying ‘Bangladesh is a muslim country… HIV is not a problem for us… ‘ and so on.
Their reluctance to accept the truth is what makes the scenario worse. Among the lots of examples : only until recently – BTV had a policy of not airing condom advertises.
More examples? Ok… While making blood transfusions, it is mandatory that some screening tests are made. Among these are HbsAg, VDRL etc and HIV tests. This has been in the UP (Universal Precautions by CDC of NIOSH) for years. But, in Bangladesh, well you guess! Or, rather come and visit DMCH some day, you will find professional blood donors – mostly drug addicts – selling blood for buying drugs… Sandhani and other blood collection organisations meet only about quarter to one-third of the yearly demand… for the rest… patients and attendants try to manage blood from relatives and friends, and for yet others who can’t – these professional donors are life-savers(!). And, pre-transfusion tests, like many other tests mentioned in the rules, are not done in many clinics and hospitals.
Let’s forget the Gov. for a moment; are we, ourselves ready ? Ask yourself, how many times have you donated blood ? Blood’s not sth you can produce in factories… Somebody has to donate for somebody else to live…
Back to where I started, the Prothom Alo Report. I call it IRRESPONSIBLE journalism. Let me explain why.
I don’t know why this is a first page news anyway. But the fact that alarmed me is the reality – except a neglegible few, almost none of us would regard a HIV positive person like any other normal person with any other normal disease… Many would be tempted to debate on this issue, but I have seen medical professionals refusing to draw sample blood from ’suspected’ HIV positives… I have seen medical students (even some of my classmates) staring their eyes and searching for donor identity when one numbered sample amongst many similar ones returned HIV positive, damn-caring medical ethics that entitles anonymity to willing patients.
What can you expect from non-medical persons ?
P-Alo will always claim, we’ve not published the names and bla bla… But as I just said, my experience tells me, as good as anyone else, by tomorrow morning – that family will be pointed out very easily with the description provided… And it does not matter whether they are actually HIV positives or not… they’re just doomed…
We’ve seen HIV positive kid being kicked out of school in India.. don’t knoe what’ll happen here…
“HIV positives can live for many years”, some even without developing AIDS… that is what my medical books say… So says Prothom Alo. What the books don’t say and P. Alo don’t care about are the sufferings they undergo from their very near and dear ones…
Posted by sanjoy 
If that is the case, why do they need doctors anyway? Nobody needs MBBS degree to die... ]
Posted by sanjoy 
Posted by sanjoy 
