The Hindu : Patients keep unhealthy company

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 26, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Patients keep unhealthy company

By Ramya Kannan

CHENNAI July 25. Every afternoon, Palani has his lunch in very natural surroundings. Too natural, it would seem. Even as his emaciated frame heaves with every mouthful he takes, sitting under the shade of trees, pigs surround him, scavenging for their meal.

In the largest hospital of its kind in Asia treating patients suffering from tuberculosis and persons living with HIV, pigs and goats have a free run. Patients and staff of the TB Sanatorium Hospital, Tambaram, believed that the tie-up with the Centres for Disease Control, Atlanta, U.S., would revolutionise the place. But that hope is yet to be realised.

``At one time, there were pigs all over the place. They would trot in and eat the food thrown away by the patients. The situation is better and we have fewer animals,'' say duty nurses in HIV wards.

The pigs and goats, reared by locals, sneak into the campus through a damaged fence on the southern boundary of the Sanatorium, ward boys explain. For a long while, overgrown shrubs and poor sanitary conditions inside, in addition to the food thrown away by the patients, provided the pigs an ideal feeding and rearing ground.

Though the area has since been cleaned up and maintained, the pigs continue to slip in through the fence because their owners can fatten them free. The former director, C.N.Deivanayagam, says efforts were made, without success, to kill the pigs with the help of Narikoravas.

The staff say the only solution is to build a strong boundary wall. ``There is no provision in the rules to sanction money for building boundary walls. Therefore, we have to find funds from other sources,'' says Syed Munir Hoda, Health Secretary. The Government will soon address the problem, and also the issue of lack of counsellors.

At present, only two counsellors serve what seems a staggering number of patients. The out-patient strength in recent weeks has been of the order of 700, including about 300 HIV positive cases. A total of about 940 in-patients are treated, nearly 280 of them HIV positive. Physicians say lack of adequate number of counsellors could be one of the main reasons for the number of suicides on the campus. The Health department intends using the services offered by the CDC, Atlanta, to increase the number of counsellors for the hospital, and partnering with an NGO.

Meanwhile the TN State AIDS Control Society has been asked to delegate two counsellors, says Mr.Hoda.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

Stories in this Section

Smoke and dust keep them company

Pirate gang held, stolen articles recovered

HC allows CMDA to process forms for regularisation

A long journey in search of justice

`Mahout' hurt as he tries to separate fighting tuskers

Patients keep unhealthy company