Shock treatment

Young woman married to a not so young man ,getting pregnant and then getting tested for HIV during the course of the pregancy is a common scenario in the clinic .Women who test positive for HIV are referred to our prevention of mother to child tranmission programme .They do regularly and sincerely follow the obstetrician's instructions and deliver healthy HIV negative babies .

What is intriguing is the fact that the husbands who usually accompany these women (and are infected too ) never bother about their medical care .They play the role of a sincere hubby rather very effectively but when you ask them to see the doctor ,it is always next time .There is not much of a problem until serious illnesses intervene .We had a handful ,who ,when the wife was progressing through the pregnancy progressed to very serious illnesses and death .

Then there was this woman ,whose husband was refusing to get any treatment inspite of our repeated counsel .Though we offered all help ,he stubbornly refused to take the necessary tests .We patiently waited for a few weeks and then decided it was time to do something .


One fine morning he walked in with his wife ,with the same old story of next time ."Well then ,"I said ,"you seemed to be decided against taking any treatment .In that case ,your health might deteriorate at any point of time .This will affect your wife and the baby who are entirely dependent on you . Who is going to take care of them after you ? I will wait for just one more week ...if you do not report to the hospital for treatment by then ,I will get your wife remarried to more suitable man who can take of her and himself."

Surely enough, the husband has come in for treatment .


Poongulali

Everyday

Every morning ,six days a week ,patients walk in and out of my consultation room .They come with all kinds of complaints ,all kinds of stories.They expect that I will not only prescribe but also listen and react to what they say and suggest if possible the single universal remedy for all their worldly troubles and more so without any medicines .Since all my patients are HIV infected ,they always come hoping that I will tell them that a permanent cure is on the horizon .

Some , believe all that you have to say ,take any number of medicines that you care to prescribe and trust with all their heart.But there are also the sceptics who after hours of patient explanations go back with the least faith in me and my medicines.These two are better than the third group which chiefly consists of cats on the wall .They come ,they talk ,they get examined and they take away the prescriptions with due respect and regard but when they come back always tell you that they have taken one month of medicines when three were due and half tablets were one was prescribed and come back after one year when they should have returned after three swift months .These are the rebels of the system .They loathe the fact the fact that they should be prevailed upon by a woman wearing a white coat to take what they know is not good for them .They believe ,that modern medicine is a conspiracy against humanity and its natural immunity and it is better to fight from within .It is these people who make the practice of medicine as lively and challenging as it is today .

Every patient I believe ,is a walking lesson and it is by proper study of them that my prescriptions can ever get their due recognition and adherence......