People with HIV/AIDS deserve equal medical treatment: Minister

Kurniawan Hari and I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Denpasar

Health clinics, hospital or physicians are supposed to serve all patients, including those already infected with Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV) or full-blown Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said on Saturday.

"In principle, we are working to eradicate HIV, not its sufferers. It's unfair to refuse them treatment," Sujudi told the media on the sidelines of a meeting with non-governmental organization activists here.

The minister was responding to reports that some medical institutions and practitioners in Denpasar had refused to treat people with HIV/AIDS.

"If there is a case, I will soon investigate it," Sujudi said.

As of September last year, the number of HIV/AIDS related cases in Indonesia was estimated at 120,000. But official data, based on hospital reports, put the figure only at about 2,300.

A volunteer dealing with HIV/AIDS in Bali, Putu Utami, disclosed that the number of people with HIV in Bali had reached 100, 30 of which had symptoms of AIDS. Nine of them had died.

Utami recalled that many of her clients had experienced what she called "subtle rejection" from the medical community, particularly general practitioners who run private clinics.

"Their usual excuse is that their facilities are inadequate to provide medical treatment for people with HIV/AIDS and advise them to seek treatment at the province's central hospital in Sanglah, where an HIV/AIDS task force has been established," Utami said.

Separately, executive director of Yayasan Hatihati, a foundation that works intensively with intravenous drug users communities in Bali, Yacintha Egamadona, recalled how a dentist refused to treat one of her colleagues, who happened to have been tested positive for HIV.

"Afraid that he might scare the dentist if he disclosed his medical status, he told the dentist that he was infected with Hepatitis C, and asked the doctor to thoroughly sterilize the equipment after treating him. The dentist then examined his face, and stated that he would not treat him," she said.

Such rejection does not happen in hospitals, Utami added.

"As far as I know, we have never heard of a case in which a person with HIV/AIDS was rejected treatment by a hospital," she added.