Shying away due to stigma

NST: Despite ready access to treatment and subsidised costs, most people with HIV/AIDS are keeping away from hospitals.
One reason is that they are not aware that treatment can help improve their lives.
"The other reason is the fear of coming forward for help," said Dr Christopher Lee, Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s senior specialist and consultant for infectious diseases, in an interview.
"People are afraid of the stigma."
He said of the 65,000 known HIV-positive people in the country, only a small number had sought treatment.
In 2003, the National HIV/AIDS Treatment Registry (NHATR) showed that 1,785 HIV-positive people were undergoing highly active anti-retroviral therapy in government hospitals.
Dr Lee said they represented between 80 and 90 per cent of all those on such treatment. The rest were being treated in private hospitals.
When the registry is updated in March, Dr Lee expects the number to rise to some 2,500 patients undergoing treatment.
Dr Lee said it was not compulsory for HIV/AIDS sufferers to report to the registry, but drug sales indicated that less than five per cent of the 65,000 victims were under treatment.
He said cost used to be a major factor but this was no longer the case. Treatment per month could cost as little as RM60 for a single drug, while a cocktail of drugs would come to RM220 a month.
Before the introduction of government subsidies, the cost was about RM2,200 a month.
Some groups are also given free treatment, including mothers who tested positive after childbirth.
For other patients, the Government provides two types of drugs free and the patient pays for the third.
There are 12 types of drugs available for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, including six generic drugs from India.
"New drugs would give doctors more options in the combination of drugs given to patients, in case one drug fails," Dr Lee said.
He said many companies did not sell HIV/AIDS treatment drugs in Malaysia because it was not profitable to do so.
"This is not a problem in Malaysia alone, it is a regional problem, affecting Cambodia and Thailand as well."
He, however, stressed that the available drugs were "good enough".
NHATR clinical registry manager Joselyn Pang said there had been an increase in the number of HIV/AIDS patients seeking treatment at government hospitals, especially in Kota Baru, Penang, Ipoh and Johor Baru.
"There certainly is improvement. More people are getting treatment, but not enough. Never enough," she said.