Why we need in-patient care for people with HIV

Why do we need in-patient care for people with HIV?

Two simple reasons:

1. Admitting patients with HIV saves lives. Many people who are called "terminal cases" are not. They are very sick and if they get admitted and given supervised treatment for their infections they can recover and live wonderfully productive and meaningful lives. A terminal case can only really be said once the person has died.

2. People with HIV still are discriminated against in health-care settings. So many times they are not admitted for care because medical professionals are afraid to treat them - or they feel that there is no point in treating them.

A small story:

Harish and Tahira are a couple from a distant suburb (names changed of course). Both have HIV. They found out about their status almost 10 years ago - well before most of the current treatments for people with HIV were available.

Harish got sick. Very sick. He needed hospitalisation. Badly.

Harish's brother was working as a driver for the principal of a famous South Mumbai school. This man's son and daughter were working as doctors at CMC Vellore. Harish's brother urged Tahira to take Harish to Vellore for treatment - an almost 2 day train journey.

They took the journey. Harish slipped into a coma. A gone-case it seemed.

It seemed.

But due to the loving and expert care he recieved at Vellore, Harish recovered.

He and Tahira are alive today. Working. Raising their family. Donating for others with HIV.

After years of being away from their son - who they sent to their relatives because they thought they would not live long - and that they could not look after him - the couple has now brought their son back to live with them.

Why do we need in-patient care for people with HIV? Because too many people with HIV who have died - could have been saved. Could have been living a life like Harish and Tahira.

How much longer do people with HIV have to wait before they are treated as people rather than as a disease?