World AIDS Day: KGMU’s ART centre helping single HIV patients find match, become parents
In the latest case, a 28-year-old Sitapur resident and his 26-year-old wife from Lucknow have become proud parents to a healthy baby with KGMU’s help.
LUCKNOW: The diagnosis of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) often brings the social life of an individual to a screeching halt due to the stigma associated with the disease. It’s even worse for single infected patients, who fear ending up alone without a life partner.
Acknowledging this predicament of AIDS patients, the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre of Lucknow-based King George’s Medical University (KGMU) has been helping them find a suitable match. Not only this, the ART centre also helps such patients become parents.
In the latest case, a 28-year-old Sitapur resident and his 26-year-old wife from Lucknow have become proud parents to a healthy baby with KGMU’s help. The first meeting between the man and the woman was arranged by ART officials about two years ago. Subsequently, they got married.
“At the ART centre, we tell HIV-positive unmarried men and women about other patients, who can be their prospective counterparts. If they show interest, we help in counselling and matchmaking. So far, we have solemnised 67 marriages between HIV-infected men and women in the past seven years,” said Dr Bhaskar Pandey, counsellor at KGMU’s ART centre.
The doctor added, “We also explain to the man and woman everything they need to keep in mind while conceiving and during pregnancy. Medication and precaution can help an HIV-positive woman deliver a healthy newborn in the majority of cases. Over 30 couples who met each other at the ART centre have now become parents.”
The intervention of the ART centre is crucial in such cases as there is a chance that the newborn might contract HIV from infected parents. “Children born to HIV-positive parents are given medication till the age of 18 months. Thereafter, a test is done to check their HIV status,” said Dr Pandey.
According to doctors, HIV can pass from an infected woman to her child during pregnancy, at the time of birth, and while breastfeeding as well. However, medical treatment of both the mother and her infant can minimise the chances of contraction.
Meanwhile, Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general association of international doctors, said, “If one person among a married couple is HIV positive, the non-infected spouse is always at the risk of contracting the disease. Therefore, it is advisable that HIV-positive men and women should marry each other. Such couples can plan to become parents under medical guidance.”