“I wish someone had told me about HIV testing from the very beginning, so that my Savita* wouldn’t have ended up in your hospital in such a critical condition. No other child should have to go through the pain she is suffering right now, and no parent should have to watch their child go through such distress.”
My daughter first fell ill a year ago; she was very sick with a high fever. I took her to the local clinic in our village, where she was seen by a quack in a private clinic. Savita was treated with various injections for a week. I didn’t know what medicines she was given or why they were given. There was no treatment card or documentation.
Instead of getting better, my daughter’s condition worsened. I was told there was nothing more that could be done at the local clinic and to take Savita to a private hospital in Hajipur. There, my daughter was admitted. The doctor prescribed many blood tests and X-rays, which cost 55,000 INR. Savita was admitted for about 10 days. She received many medicines, but she kept getting worse. Finally, the doctor told me that Savita had an infection in the brain. He told me he couldn’t help Savita anymore. He advised me to take her to another private hospital where they could help her. Again, Savita was admitted for another week. I had to pay another 50,000 INR for the care. I am a widow, my husband died 15 years ago, and I have no income. To afford all these medical expenditures, I had to loan money. In the end, I could not afford the costs anymore. As my daughter was not getting any better, I had no other choice but to bring her home again.
I didn’t know what to do. People in the village advised me to bring Savita to different religious places. I did, and priests performed rituals to remove evil spirits from her body. Nothing helped, and my daughter only became sicker.
One of my relatives advised me to take Savita to a higher government hospital in Patna. We were seen by a medical doctor in the Emergency Department. This doctor told us there was nothing that could be done there and advised us to bring her to the state referral hospital. In this hospital, Savita was admitted, and tests were done again. This is where we found out that my daughter was HIV positive. Savita continued to be very sick. One of the nurses spoke to me. She said, “Even if you sell all your properties, you can’t save your child.” She also told me, “This is Chua Chut Bimari (a disease spread by touching), and I should bring my child back home and not tell anybody about the HIV.” I did as the nurse advised me.
I took my daughter back to see the private doctor in Hajipur. The doctor asked to see the medical documentation from the state referral hospital. When the doctor saw that Savita had tested positive for HIV, he told me to take her to Guru Gobind Singh Hospital in Patna. Now, we are here.
The story of Savita and her mother is unfortunately not unique. In the first ten months of 2024, 803# patients were admitted to the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital in Patna, with 577 being new admissions and 226 re-admissions. Alarmingly, 37% of the newly admitted patients were diagnosed with HIV for the first time, having never received any treatment before. Another 34% of the patients had been diagnosed and started treatment less than three months prior to their admission. These statistics paint a sobering picture of missed opportunities for early detection and initiation of treatment. Like Savita and her mother, many patients and their families endure long, costly journeys through multiple healthcare providers before receiving proper care. They often spend unaffordable sums on ineffective treatments, highlighting the urgent need for improved HIV awareness, testing, and timely access to appropriate medical care.
*Name has been changed to respect confidentiality
#803 patients admitted to the Doctors Without Borders inpatient facility in Guru Gobind Singh Hospital (GGSH) in Patna
Since 2019, Doctors Without Borders, in close collaboration with the Department of Health, Government of Bihar, and Bihar State AIDS Control Society (BSACS), has been operating a highly specialized, holistic inpatient facility within the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital (GGSH) in Patna City. The facility focuses on treating opportunistic infections in HIV patients, addressing the critical gaps in care for this extremely vulnerable population. Patients with advanced HIV face an extremely high mortality rate and have complex treatment needs encompassing nutrition, infection management, mental health, and psychosocial support. In response, Doctors Without Borders has been working collaboratively with the government to reduce mortality and morbidity in this patient group by increasing access to comprehensive care for those presenting with life-threatening opportunistic infections.
