Segregating AIDS patients is unfair
By T. Sima Gunawan
Although scientists all over the world are still doing intensive research on AIDS, the disease remains incurable. The fear of being infected with the virus has resulted in discrimination against people diagnosed as HIV positive. Hospitals, too, are not prepared to deal with HIV/AIDS patients. How serious is the condition? What has the government done to alleviate such fears and discriminative acts? The Jakarta Post brings up the issue in the following article. More stories are on pages 4 and 8.
JAKARTA (JP): Living with AIDS is more than painful. Not only because a cure for AIDS is still a distant dream, but also because most people shun those with the disease.
Many people feel uneasy in the presence of a person with AIDS as they are afraid of being infected. As a result, those who are diagnosed as being HIV positive often suffer discriminative treatment. They are dismissed from work, isolated by society and, in some cases, are disowned by their families.
The National Commission for the Containment of AIDS, which is chaired by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas, clearly stipulates in its game plan that there should be no discrimination against AIDS patients.
Minister of Health Sujudi also underlines that hospitals should not reject patients with HIV/AIDS.
Yet some hospitals refuse to treat sufferers.
In March this year, Puri Cinere Hospital in South Jakarta ordered the transfer of a patient to Sulianti Saroso Hospital in North Jakarta after one of the doctors found that the patient had AIDS.
Late last month Medistra Hospital, also in South Jakarta, barred one of its physicians, Dr. Sjamsuridjal Djauzi, from practicing there because he treated AIDS patients.
The incident soon drew public attention. The government promised to look into the matter, while the Indonesian Medical Association as well as some non-governmental organizations expressed concern.
"This is a big tragedy in Indonesia's medical history. Clearly, the Indonesian Medical Association cannot accept this and sincerely regret the case," Dr. Azrul Azwar, chairman of the organization, said in a seminar on AIDS yesterday.
The fact that HIV/AIDS patients are still subject to discrimination shows people's lack of understanding about AIDS, according to Dr. Adi Sasongko from Kusuma Buana Foundation.
"They are not really aware that AIDS can affect anyone," he told The Jakarta Post.
Many people believe that only prostitutes and morally corrupt people can be infected by the virus, he added.
Commenting on the reluctance of some hospitals to accept HIV/AIDS patients, Sasongko said this does not necessarily mean that medical staff are ignorant about the disease. They know, but will not lend a hand because they are afraid that the other patients would not like it. In other words, they worry that receiving HIV/AIDS patients will affect their business, according to Sasongko.
"This is scary. Just imagine, if medical staff themselves still have such an attitude over the issue of AIDS, how about people in other fields?" he said.
Is it true that the "occupancy rate" of a hospital will drop if the doctors treat AIDS patients?
Dr. Broto Warsito, an expert staff member of the Ministry of Health, assured that there is no connection between the treatment of AIDS patients and a hospital's business.
"I have never heard that a hospital becomes empty because it treats AIDS patients," he said yesterday in a seminar on AIDS.
He also dismissed the possibility that other patients might contract the virus.
Misconception
Discrimination against AIDS patients occurs mainly because of "improper psychological feelings" as a result of a misconception of the disease.
"Touching an AIDS patient, sharing a towel with the patient, or eating from the same plate will not make you get the virus," Broto said.
"You can show affection to a patient by hugging or kissing him or her and you will still be all right," Broto added.
He also assured that if a patient's blood drops on the skin of a healthy person, this will not affect the latter.
"Public education is essential to change the misconception about HIV," he said.
The education, however, should cover not only the common people but also health workers.
Samsi Jacobalis, chairman of the Indonesian Hospital Association, said on another occasion that not all medical workers are "mentally" ready to deal with HIV/AIDS-infected people.
Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare Azwar Anas said that as of Aug. 10 this year, the number of people infected with HIV and AIDS reached 316. The sufferers were in 15 of the 27 provinces of Indonesia. Out of this number, 77 had full-blown AIDS and 50 of them had died.
But experts estimate that the actual number of people with the virus is more than 200 times the registered number.
The first AIDS case was reported in Bali in 1987.
Azwar said the government has started making efforts to deal with AIDS, with the establishment of a working group on the Prevention and Control of AIDS in 1986.
Realizing the danger of the disease, President Soeharto himself issued a decree in 1994 on the establishment of the National Commission on the Containment of AIDS.
Broto, however, deplores the small funds allocated to combat AIDS.
"Last year Thailand spent US$60 million to fight AIDS, but the AIDS fund allocated by the Health Ministry (of Indonesia) for this year is only Rp 5 billion ($2.18 million)," he said.
The total budget of the Health Ministry for the 1995/1996 fiscal year is Rp 948.2 billion ($415 million).
Is the amount of the AIDS fund enough?
It's hard to say yes, especially because Indonesia has a population of 195 million. Allocating more money would obviously be helpful. In the meantime, the important thing to do is to effectively apply the fund on AIDS education and on other efforts to fight the fatal disease.