The district hospital in Malda which has a ward for HIV positive patients. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, Nov. 1: A woman has alleged that her son, who is under treatment at the district hospital here, is being shunned by doctors and nurses after he tested positive for HIV.

The 20-year-old has been in hospital since the first week of September when he was injured in a train accident.

The mother of the youth, who is a domestic help, has been running from pillar to post seeking “justice”. She is also planning to write to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, seeking intervention.

Prabir (name changed), who worked in a sweetmeat shop, was hit by Hatebazare Express on September 2 when his foot got stuck in the railway tracks while crossing it at Krishnapally. He was seriously injured and was rushed to the district hospital nearby. The youth’s right hand and left leg had to be amputated.

His mother said blood tests conducted 12 days ago had confirmed that Prabir was HIV infected. “Since then, he has become a victim of neglect. The doctors and nurses have abandoned him. His blood had been tested several times in the hospital. But then he had never tested positive for HIV,” she said.

A visit to the hospital revealed that the youth’s dressings had not been changed for sometime. Prabir said it was more than a week old. “We have been told by the doctors that we might get infected by the oozing wounds the youth has and so we are not doing anything,” a paramedical staff member of the hospital said.

The mother said she had drawn the attention of the chairman of the Englishbazar Municipality and Congress leader Narendranath Tiwari and CPM councillor Dolon Chaki to Prabir’s plight.

“The role of the hospital authorities is not only inhuman but also unpardonable. The chief medical officer of health should immediately ensure his better treatment and take to task those who are responsible for his plight,” Tiwari said.

The chairman also threatened to launch a movement if the hospital authorities failed to provide Prabir with proper medical care. CPM councillor Chaki was more guarded in her response. “The matter is very sensitive. I shall first find out the details before I comment,” she said.

Hospital superintendent Animesh Roy confirmed that Prabir had tested HIV positive, but denied that the doctors and nurses had stopped treating him. According to Roy, there is a separate ward in the hospital for HIV patients and Prabir would be shifted there soon.

“It is not correct that he is not being treated. We conducted the HIV test when the doctors treating him observed that his wounds were not healing even two months after surgery. When the reports came, the physicians treating him advised his family to shift him to Calcutta where it would be easier to find out to what extent he was infected by the virus,” Roy said.

The superintendent said Prabir had not been tested for HIV before surgery. The test is mandatory in most private hospitals. At state-run hospitals, however, the test is not compulsory.

About the chances of Prabir getting infected from blood given during surgery, Roy said: “Chances are slim. The blood that he received was tested by the blood bank concerned.” But if the blood given was infected, a doctor said, it usually takes six weeks to six months after the virus enters the body for the symptoms to manifest.

However, Roy, said he would look into the charges that Prabir’s dressings were not being changed regularly.