Doctors at the seminar at Patna Medical College and Hospital on Thursday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Dec. 1: Doctors are a respected lot in society and they should not act on prejudices while treating AIDS patients, stressed medics today at a seminar at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).

Red Ribbon Club of PMCH, in collaboration with Patna Medical College Teaching Unit, organised a seminar on World AIDS Day where several doctors said an AIDS patient should not be treated any different from a tuberculosis or a cancer patient.

Around 200 students, including first-year, second-year and postgraduate medicos, attended the seminar where the speakers discussed the precautions to be taken for AIDS, the need for awareness among people and various prejudices related with the disease.

Faculty member in the dermatology department and nodal officer of the programme Dr Amarkant Jha Amar said doctors should diagnose sexually transmitted diseases at the earliest to reduce possibilities of AIDS. “The medical fraternity needs to keep a tab on sexually transmitted diseases. If we are successful in identifying them at an early stage, we can reduce the possibility of patients getting infected with the HIV virus,” he added.

He also stressed the need for awareness drives among female sex workers to reduce the number of HIV/AIDS cases. “Sex workers should force their clients to wear condoms as only safe sex can reduce cases of HIV/AIDS,” said Dr Amarkant.

Neelam Kumari (name changed), an AIDS patient who is undergoing treatment at PMCH, said: “When I was detected with AIDS, I found that even the doctors maintained a distance with me. I had to suffer a lot. But, today I am much better and leading a normal life thanks to treatment.”