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Fighting the stigma of HIV in India

Ramu. "I worked in a biochemistry lab doing blood investigations. Whilst there I donated blood. For three months after I donated blood, no one told me anything. They didn't tell me anything. They didn't tell me that my blood had screened HIV Positive, but my colleagues knew that. After three months they sent my sample to another hospital in Madras for confirmation. They informed our medical officer they needed a fresh sample before confirmation. Only after that did they choose to inform me. As soon as we reached the hospital they started asking different questions about my personal behaviour. Are you having sex with sex workers? How many women have you been with? Why is your face so small? are you a drug user? Are you injecting? I was not able to answer a single question. Hearing this news is a big hit, you know. I couldn't even say a single word at that time. The only information I had at that time was AIDS=DEATH, that's all. During that helpless situation my employers forced me to sign a resignation letter. The doctor who did the confirmation test asked me if I was interested to work in the field of HIV and AIDS - I said yes. I was determined that the experience that had happened to me should not happen to anyone else. I never discuss the route by which I got the infection because it becomes a question of morality. It is not relevant to make judgements. It doesn't help anybody. What is more important is that once you become HIV Positive, how do you live your life, how do you cope, and how can you be of use to other people. The problem is that when people moralise, nobody persolises the issue. If people personalise the issues, they won't talk about judgements."

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Fighting the Stigma in India
Ramu. "I worked in a biochemistry lab doing blood investigations. Whilst there I donated blood. For three months after I donated blood, no one told me anything. They didn't tell me anything. They didn't tell me that my blood had screened HIV Positive, but my colleagues knew that. After three months they sent my sample to another hospital in Madras for confirmation. They informed our medical officer they needed a fresh sample before confirmation. Only after that did they choose to inform me. As soon as we reached the hospital they started asking different questions about my personal behaviour. Are you having sex with sex workers? How many women have you been with? Why is your face so small? are you a drug user? Are you injecting? I was not able to answer a single question. Hearing this news is a big hit, you know. I couldn't even say a single word at that time. The only information I had at that time was AIDS=DEATH, that's all. During that helpless situation my employers forced me to sign a resignation letter. The doctor who did the confirmation test asked me if I was interested to work in the field of HIV and AIDS - I said yes. I was determined that the experience that had happened to me should not happen to anyone else. I never discuss the route by which I got the infection because it becomes a question of morality. It is not relevant to make judgements. It doesn't help anybody. What is more important is that once you become HIV Positive, how do you live your life, how do you cope, and how can you be of use to other people. The problem is that when people moralise, nobody persolises the issue. If people personalise the issues, they won't talk about judgements."
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