Too poor to travel to the hospital to get medicine for her son and herself

The Hospice at Shanti Nivas

Last week we admitted  mother and her son. They were registered as suffering form HIV in 2008 and 2011 respectively.In 2008 the nearest centre to their village for receiving check up and  retroviral therapy was in Visakhapatnam -  - about 100 kilomenters from their home and a long and slow journey by bus, Appal, the little boy was only 15kg in weight and he was started on a 'baby' dose in July 2011, when both mother and son were admitted into the hospital because they were so weak.

His weight now is only 14.5kg - 14 months later.

The little boy stopped taking ART in January 2012 because his mother could not afford to take him to get his medicine. It was difficult enough for her to go begging for food locally for them to eat. She came to know that there was now a nearer hospital to get ART but she has not been for a year. The little boy goes to school, he is in the second class, so at least he gets one free school meal. Mother goes begging for idli or rice - each day to a different shop. They are both very weak, anaemic and Appall has ringworm and fungal infections all over his body.

We will give them a high protein diet, treat his fungal infections, do TB tests and get them onto ART again.

Another patient is a man of 53 who was recently diagnosed and was referred to us by the ART centre because he has stopped taking his ART as it made him feel sick, and he was suffering from leg pains ,fever.and anaemia.

We explained about the side effects of the strong drugs and that the symptoms would lessen over the next few weeks if  he increased his protein intake , took rest and had clean food and water.