Balasore: The consequences of stigma and discrimination against AIDS patients are wide-ranging. While many AIDS patients are shunned by their family and friends, or by their community, many others face poor treatment in healthcare and educational settings.
One such incident has come to the fore from a nondescript village in Soro of Balasore district. A woman has been left to fend for herself after being discriminated and turned away from her family and village as her she is affected by HIV AIDS.
According to sources, the victim Gayatri (name changed) lived with her husband and a son. The family came to know that her husband was suffering from AIDS and admitted him to Soro Community Health Centre.
After preliminary treatment, he was shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. Despite spending lakhs on his treatment, he passed away to the disease. Soon after the deadly disease AIDs claimed the life of his son too.
Now, Gayatri is left behind with her two daughters with no one to take care of the family. After her husband’s death, Gayatri was shunned away from the village. She was also not allowed to perform the last rites of her husband in the village cremation ground. Such was the desperation that Gayatri had to perform her husband’s last rites in front of their little hut.
Now, she and her two daughters have been boycotted from the village. They are not allowed to enter the village or use the village facilities. This lack of awareness has made life difficult for Gayatri and her two daughters. The family survives with whatever Gayatri gets by doing odd jobs.
According to government survey, as many as 1,508 people in Soro have been reported of suffering from AIDS from 2003 to 2018. However, social boycott and isolation have made their life hell, worse than the disease itself.
While doctors have demanded for awareness programmes, Gayatri wishes for monetary help from government.
PNN