Another HIV patient commits suicide

‘‘I can’t live with half a leg or a diseased face,’’ sobbed Jayaraman, who was worried about his orphaned niece.

FOR the doctors who counselled him, it was a day of mixed emotions. The State-run Byculla Hospital has lost three HIV patients in three days — Jalgaon farmer Datta Surve, the latest casualty. Surve, admitted on April 18, jumped off the fifth-floor window and fractured his limbs. He died an hour later.

‘‘He had reached an advanced stage of HIV and was probably influenced by Ravi Patil’s suicide,’’ said Dr Pravin Shingare, dean of JJ Hospital. Patil, who killed himself on April 19, and Surve were in the same ward.

In a city that has around four lakh HIV patients — Maharashtra has an estimated seven lakh — many, like Jayaraman, find it difficult to come to terms with their illness. Suicide, then, becomes an escape route.

‘‘People with chronic ailments like HIV/AIDS have greater chances of committing suicide probably because of the high rate of depression,’’ explained Dr Anjali Chhabria, a consulting psychiatrist.

‘‘In 20 years, I’ve seen families battle this illness,’’ said Dr Alka Deshpande, unit in-charge of the NACO-sponsored anti-retroviral therapy at JJ Hospital. ‘‘But counselling is important to dismiss doubts.’’

Dr M.E. Yeolekar, the dean of the city’s Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General

Hospital, Sion, said that while adequate counselling disseminates accurate information, ‘‘with HIV, the mental and physical components can sometimes drive the patient to the edge’’.

On HIV trail in Mumbai

• April 18: Sunil Shinde (46), an unemployed sweeper, killed himself at his Mulund residence. He was undergoing treatment for HIV and TB and is survived by his wife and 11-year-old son

• April 19: Ravi Patil (28) jumped from the fifth floor of JJ Hospital. He was admitted with HIV and TB, but couldn’t handle the trauma

• April 20: Datta Surve (28) jumped from the JJ Hospital corridor window and fractured his limbs. An hour later, he succumbed to his injuries