Partially blind HIV positive woman faces bleak future

AMRITSAR: Sitting motionless on double bed placed in a corner of small (10 by 10 feet) dimly lit room in Havaldar Colony of Verka, near Amritsar, 32-year-old Gurinder (name changed), an HIV positive woman, prays all the time for recovery from her illness - not HIV but partial blindness, which she claimed was a result of reaction to some medicines.
She always keeps the mobile phone with her, having balance of merely Rs 3-4, to contact her husband, a factory worker who too is HIV positive, in case of an emergency.She is distressed with the discrimination and stigma attached to HIV patients. She said it was more agonizing when her three-and-a-half-year-old healthy son is shooed away by the neighbours.
"We are treated as untouchables. Our family throws food in front of me like it is given to dogs. Doctors don't want to operate me because I am HIV positive. We have consulted many eye surgeons but no one is ready to operate me. One of the famous eye surgeons in Chandigarh examined my eyes with ear buds and didn't even touch me," she told TOI on Tuesday.
The only person in the couple's lives that shows them some ray of hope is Dr Vaneet Sareen who has not only financially helped the hapless couple but has also assured to spend up to Rs 1 lakh on treatment of her eyes through his organization Akhil Bhartiya Human Rights Welfare Association. "It's unfortunate but true that most of the doctors have denied her treatment on one pretext or the other," said Sareen.
Gurinder acquired the virus from her drug addict husband who shared the syringes with other addicts for injecting narcotics. She said, "I don't know how long would I survive with HIV, but I want my eyesight back so that I can work and contribute financially to run my family."
Groping her way to an almirah, Gurinder took out her old photographs and said, "See how I looked then and what I have become now."
Her eye treatment would cost around Rs 12 lakh, says her husband, adding: "How can we afford it? Moreover, doctors are simply not ready to operate an HIV positive patient. Every doctor refers her to the other.".
Meanwhile, Dr Jyoti of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital said, "She was undergoing antiretroviral therapy and had reaction from one of the drugs. But then we are giving same drugs to all HIV positive patients, hers is one out of a thousand case."
The doctor also denied that HIV patients were not operated due to stigma or fear. "Specialized doctors are operating the HIV positive patients like others. Sometimes the patient thinks that he or she is being discriminated against." Dr Jyoti said they had referred Gurinder even to private doctors but there were not much chances of her recovery.