Information Related to "A Firsthand Account: Africa's Deadly AIDS Crisis"
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Behind the Headlines |
First Hand Account:
Africa's Deadly AIDS Crisis
by Cecil Maranville
Because of the shockingly candid details related below, the author, a physician, has asked that we delete any comments that might reveal his identity. Warning: This account is sobering and distressing.
Sub-Saharan Africa, early 2001—“The main reason I can’t wait to get out of here is that my personality is suddenly altering. They say it’s called ‘becoming a doctor.’(Here) that means your main emotion when a patient dies is relief.
“The AIDS (epidemic) is becoming alarming. Most of our beds are filled with HIVpositive patients. They talk about the ‘package deal’down in the emergency department. An extremely skinny patient comes in, coughing, complaining of tiredness. On examination, they have oral thrush, often so bad that even their lips are covered with a white fungus as it climbs out of their mouths. And immediately you know that they have HIV, TB (tuberculosis) and oral candidiasis (a fungal infection).
“We go through the motions of testing them, but I don’t know why. We admit them, rehydrate them, and all that we succeed in doing is prolonging their death by a week or two. We are now at the point where we refuse to give them any active treatment (antibiotics, antifungals, even blood), which includes resuscitation. It’s quite simple—even with active treatment, the only difference you make is a few weeks. (They always wait until they are terminal before arriving at the hospital.) So why waste money you don’t have to begin with?
“The other day I caught myself saying out loud that we should start refusing to admit HIV-positive patients, since we’re only prolonging the inevitable. We’re turning away patients with asthma and diabetes, patients with controllable diseases who could contribute to the economy, because AIDS patients are taking up all the beds.
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