On HIV, hepatitis patients

I would like to plead with the management a popular hospital in Abuja to separate hepatitis patients from those living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, popularly known as HIV/AIDS.

I am not discriminating against those living with HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, an incident that occurred at the hospital in question recently impelled me to give this kind of advice at this time.

An eyewitness, who is also living with HIV and receives treatment at the hospital in question, confirmed the incident. According to this eyewitness, recently, a young man was diagnosed with hepatitis at the hospital.

Thereafter, he was directed to the section of the hospital where patients living with the HIV/AIDS receive their treatment and collect drugs. There, he saw people waiting for doctors to attend to them and he thought that they were also hepatitis patients.

He waited for a while and asked his seat mate the following question: “Sir, are you also suffering from hepatitis?” The addressee wanted to know why he asked such a question. Then, he explained that a doctor from another side of the hospital diagnosed him with hepatitis B and referred him to the place in question for treatment.

The seat mate calmly whispered into his ears that “this department of the hospital deals with those living with HIV/AIDS.”

The hepatitis patient became confused. He thought that perhaps he had HIV or AIDS but the doctor wasn’t bold enough to tell him the truth. He quickly became cold, maintained silence for some minutes and finally fainted.

Notwithstanding, I did my investigation and discovered that the particular department in the hospital in question where people living with HIV/AIDS are receiving treatment, is the same department that also deals with hepatitis patients.

It is unfortunate that the man with hepatitis was not provided with the right information. Hepatitis is equally a killer disease but people are more scared of HIV/AIDS. Therefore, something has to be done to enlighten people about hepatitis.

Government should ensure free treatment of those suffering from it, just like HIV and AIDS patients. However, to avert a repetition of the above stated event, the management of the hospital should either consider my advice or do something else which can bring a permanent solution to the issue in question.

Awunah  Terwase,

terwaseawunah@gmail.com