I was working at one of the HIV/AIDS clinics that Indiana University has helped establish in Kenya and there was one patient left, before we closed the clinic.
The day had been long and we had seen close to 100 patients in this 2-roomed clinic.
The last patient came into the room. I will call him: J.
J. was 28 years old, 5' 10'' tall, slender and had completed 12 years of schooling. He quickly sat down and as usual i offered a handshake. J had a good grip, notably shaky and with sweaty palms.
I started my usual questions. I asked him to give me a piece of paper that showed his HIV status.
He had none.
He had an explanation.
" I know am HIV positive but I have tested three times now and my results are always negative. I have travelled for 2 days to get to this clinic and there is no way that you are going to turn me away now. I want to be part of this program-AMPATH (Academic Model for the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS)."
I quickly went and got the rapid HIV kit. I told him that I was going to test him for HIV again and explained the whole concept to him. I also informed him that if negative he would have to come back in three months for a re-test. He agreed albeit grudgingly.
My pre-test probability was very low. He denied any high risk sexual encounters. He had not been sick before. No recent weight loss. No history of alchohol use or illicit drugs use. Monogamous.Had 3 children.
The test result was Negative. Again. I was happy for him.
He went ballistic! He could not believe it!
This was an unusual reaction. I had never encountered anyone who would be livid on discovering that they were HIV negative.
J. tried to "sweet-talk" me into enrolling him in the program but I informed him that we only enrolled HIV positive patients. Unfortunately, he promised me that he would be back!
I later found out that he wanted to be part of a family that cares. He had heard a lot of positive things about AMPATH and wanted to be a member. Part of it was because of poverty. He wanted to get the services provided by AMPATH.
With this organisation; Patients are seen by doctors, are cared for and seen in reasonable time, are given free HIV treatment and treatment of opportunistic infections. Patients are taught survival skills, are supplied with food the first few months after diagnosis and offered training on business and farming initiatives etc. He wanted to be part of all these...
On the other hand... If HIV neg. There is nothing for free and one pays for what one gets. With most of the population below the poverty line, Its no wonder someone would rather be HIV positive.
This experience was an eye opener for me.
I want to dedicate my life to the care of these poor people and work with them in establishing systems that can absorb the non-HIV positive poor patients.
It is my hope and prayer that J. does not show up to the AMPATH clinic at all, because am very sure he will be positive this time round!
Chite.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment