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Feature: Controversial Community Hearth and Home for AIDS Victims (2)

Posted on: Saturday, 2 July 2005, 09:00 CDT

Feature: controversial community hearth and home for AIDS victims (2)

PIONEERING YET CONTROVERSIAL

A pioneering AIDS activist, Guo said he felt both contented and troubled the past year.

"I'm so happy to see the patients feel at home here," he told Xinhua. "As long as I'm still at the job, I'll do whatever I can to make it thrive."

Renovation of the former SARS wards into an AIDS community cost 1.5 million yuan (about 180,000 US dollars), which was raised by the hospital itself. "The patients' treatment and medication are financed by the government, and the hospital pays for their lodging," he said.

Relocation of the hospital's AIDS wards, however, induced praises, debates as well as criticism throughout China.

Though officials with the Shanxi Provincial Health Department praised Guo's move as a "courageous" and "effective" attempt in building an AIDS community, many others criticized him for intentionally differentiating AIDS patients from others.

An article on www.tom.com, a leading Chinese Internet portal, said China's most outspoken AIDS campaigner Gao Yaojie was critical of the move.

"It's wrong and discriminatory to isolate AIDS patients from others," it quoted Gao, 78, who was one of the first physicians to bring AIDS to public attention in China. "It's also a waste of human, as well as land resources."

Gao said the practice in central China's Henan Province was more exemplary. "At what we call the 'Sunshine Homes' in many AIDS-hit villages there, the patients get free treatment at local clinics without having to leave home."

Henan, a largely agricultural province with a population of 93 million, saw the country's worst AIDS outbreak when a large number of needy peasant farmers were infected by HIV virus when selling blood to illegal dealers before 1995. Official statistics show that 11,844 people have been confirmed HIV-positive in the province, and 2,026 children have been orphaned by the death of AIDS-infected parents.

But Guo Xiaoping said he had relocated the AIDS wards to avoid cross infections with tuberculosis and hepatitis patients at the contagious diseases hospital. Many AIDS victims actually die of other infections rather than HIV, he said.

"Many AIDS patients at our hospital's headquarters dared not to go out, for the fear that they might bump into someone they knew. Green Harbor is away from public attention and they feel more at ease here where everyone is equal," he added.

According to the hospital's statistics, seven AIDS patients died between 2002 -- the year the hospital received the first case -- and mid 2004. Green Harbor, founded in July 2004, has received more than 80 patients to date, only two of whom died.

"AIDS treatment is more than medication," acknowledged Guo. "Affection, care, moderate exercises and psychotherapy are equally important. These are what Green Harbor is offering while most traditional hospitals cannot."

WHERE THERE IS A WILL

Guo and his colleagues have also been working to dispel the local people's fear of AIDS after Green Harbor was established in the suburban Yaodu district.

"We received a cold welcome when we first moved here," said Qiao Jiping, manager of the ward. "Barbers in the village refused to cut hair for the patients and even store keepers dared not let the patients in, fearing they would lose all other customers."

But when they saw how little the difference was between the patients and themselves and how fast many of them recuperated and left, most villagers were less scared. Some even dropped in by for a brief visit from time to time.

Presently, four doctors and seven nurses are working full-time at Green Harbor, all on their own initiative.

"Before the AIDS community was established, the management of the hospital asked if anyone would voluntarily work here. To our surprise, nearly everyone offered to come," said Qiao. "So we selected the best ones. They're all on very good terms with the patients."

The loving environment has not just helped the patients recuperate, but taught them to love and care for others as well.

Early this year, China's Red Cross received a letter from Linfen.

"We're AIDS patients being treated at the Green Harbor AIDS Community... We want to make our humble contributions to the people affected by the recent Indian Ocean tsunami," it read.

Twenty-one patients chipped in, donating 20 yuan each.

Guo said the donation, a voluntary act, moved him to tears.

When asked about the future of his AIDS community, Guo said he would like to expand the wards to accommodate more patients and send all the staff members to Beijing for intensified training on AIDS treatment and prevention.

"I have yet another dream," he said. "If China sets up a surgical center exclusively for AIDS patients some day, I'll open a surgical ward at Green Harbor, too."

As many hospitals reject to operate on HIV carriers, some patients try to conceal their diseases in order to get timely treatment."Which increases the risk for HIV transmission in operating rooms," he said.

Ministry of Health figures say there are 840,000 HIV carriers on the mainland, of whom 80,000 suffer from AIDS.

According to an assessment report on China's AIDS prevention and control released by the ministry last year, HIV cases had been reported in each of the Chinese mainland's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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