An HIV positive woman patient has been left abandoned by her husband at a hospital in Tripura.
According to information, one Jali Namah was recently left by her husband Sanjit Namah at Kadamtala hospital in North Tripura after she was tested HIV positive.
The incident has exposed the fact that despite massive awareness campaigns about HIV/AIDS, misconception about the disease still continues among the people across the country.
The Namah couple, who has two sons, hails from an area under Kadamtala Police Station.
As per information, an ailing Jali Namah was recently admitted to Kadamtala hospital by her husband but as he came to know that she was tested HIV positive, he fled from the hospital leaving her there and never visited again.
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Sources have informed that the HIV patient’s husband has also left his house along with two of his children.
Narayan Bhowmick, the project manager of Sanghadip NGO, which has been working for the HIV/AIDS cases, told media persons on Tuesday, “We were informed by Dr Arunabh Chakraborty of Kadamtala hospital that an HIV positive patient has been in their hospital for the last 3-4 days and she has no attendant.”
“Then we have shifted her to the District Hospital at Dharmanagar for further treatment. The patient’s husband Sanjit Namah has not been even found at his house. We have failed to understand why the patient has been left abandoned by her husband,” added Bhowmick.
The NGO also informed that no one from her mother or husband’s families has visited her in the District Hospital of North Tripura at Dharmanagar.
It is not known how HIV infected the woman.
Despite massive awareness drives on HIV/AIDS have been taken up by the government, the stigma has not yet disappeared completely.
The disease is still seen as something to be feared and ignored.
There still many misconceptions about HIV.
The following cannot transmit the virus – shaking hands, hugging, kissing, sneezing, touching unbroken skin, using same toilet, sharing towels, sharing cutlery, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or other forms of ‘casual contact’.
The HIV virus also does spread through saliva, tears, feces and urine of a person with HIV.