UP hospital pastes HIV+ sticker on AIDS patient's bed

The staff of a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda district, about 200 km from here, reportedly disclosed the identity of an AIDS patient.

According to sources, the hospital staff pasted a "HIV+" sticker on the bed of a patient who had been admitted to the district hospital a few days ago.

Sources said that the attendants of the other patients admitted in the hospital also raised an objection over the admission of an AIDS patient and demanded that he be transferred to some other ward causing a huge humiliation for the man suffering from the dreaded disease.

As the incident triggered a controversy, the hospital staff removed the sticker but by that time the identity of the AIDS patient had already become public.

Sources said that the attendants of the HIV+ patient were contemplating on taking him to some other hospital as they felt humiliated.

Taking a serious note of the matter, district health authorities ordered a probe into the matter.

"It is a serious matter... the identity of the AIDS patients cannot be disclosed... we will conduct a probe to ascertain who had pasted the sticker," said a senior district hospital authority in Gonda.