China clinics deny Aids patients

China: clinics deny AIDS patients treatment

18/05/2011

In China, patients with HI virus infection are regularly denied treatment in clinics. This comes from an investigation report of the International Labor Organization (ILO) of the UN. Thus, most AIDS patients would not be treated because of their infection in hospitals, but often simply sent away.

Hospitals reject AIDS sufferers
According to official figures, 740,000 people in the People's Republic of China are infected with the HI virus. When they become ill or break the infectious disease AIDS, most sufferers are afraid of not being treated in a hospital. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), most clinics regularly deny treatment for AIDS patients. The UN specialized agency said it had spoken to more than 100 affected patients, 23 clinic chiefs and a further number of hospital staff. The interviews clearly demonstrate discrimination against HIV-infected people. For example, a 37-year-old man from Shaanxi Province in China described how difficult it was for him to be operated on because of a stomach nodule. "Every clinic has advised me to get an immediate medical intervention, but when they heard I was HIV positive, I did not want to take any," he told the ILO. Also a special clinic refused the treatment. When asked why the patient was rejected, a manager said „Reputation can be damaged“, when other patients hear about it. Out of ignorance, many people in China fear the infection. So many, the surgery in the operating room of an AIDS sufferer, say enough to get infected later. So one responsible person said: „The call would be ruined, many patients would refuse further treatment and go to another clinic“.

Hospitals worry about rich patients
Although China turned out to be „socialist country“ presented, most hospitals work primarily profit-oriented. The concern of many clinics is that they first lose rich patients when it comes to treating people with AIDS. Beijing's Chinese government had set stricter rules earlier this year to end the problem. However, according to the UN representatives, these regulations are still insufficient to protect HIV victims from discrimination by clinics. Blatant discrimination continues to take place.

AIDS and homosexuality Decades of taboo subjects
Just like homosexuality, Aids' immunodeficiency syndrome in China was not a long ago a state-mandated taboo topic. In times of cold war and long after, the Chinese government banned any discussion or public debate on the issue. Only in the last three years did an opening take place. Nevertheless, there are large knowledge gaps in the population about the transmission pathways of the infectious disease. Many people think skin contact may be enough to infect themselves. According to official figures, about 740,000 people live with the virus in China, including 10,000 children. According to the Chinese Ministry of Health, 35,000 people died of AIDS. Independent health experts, however, estimate the numbers much higher. In some provinces, the proportion of those affected by HIV should be 70 percent, because in the early 1990s, at the beginning of the 1990s, people in the countryside turned blood donors and syringes into the countryside only when they were completely dull. (Sb)

Also read:
UN warns against rapid spread of AIDS
AIDS: SI virus is considered a precursor to HIV
Why some people do not get AIDS despite HIV
AIDS: No fate with real antibodies?
World AIDS Day: more solidarity demanded

Image: Dieter Schütz