Dubai: A majority of HIV patients in the country get infected due to drug addiction and they are being discriminated against, a senior has doctor said.
"I would like to see the patients working, companies should have no problem employing them, their jobs should not be terminated (when they are found to be HIV postive)," Dr Abdullah Mahmoud Ustadi, head of the Medical Department with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), said.
He said a draft law (respecting patient's rights and their interaction in the society) will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval. HIV or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus is otherwise known as Aids.
No longer a phobia
"The phobia (against HIV patients), the stigma, has long gone. We now know you cannot get it through kissing or contact. It spreads through body fluids," the doctor who is also a consultant physician for infectious diseases, said.
He said a majority of HIV patients here get afflicted because they take drugs.
"It depends on which part of the world you are. In India, the main reason is due to heterosexual sex. In other places, it's due to homosexuality,"
There are reportedly 700 HIV patients in the country and last year 49 people were found to be HIV positive. The DHA had said that 15 expatriates found to have HIV were also afflicted with tuberculosis, an infectious bacterial disease.
The doctor also alluded that drug addicts are not being managed professionally.
"I see the patients for their HIV management," he said and called for these people to be treated for their addiction in a more professional manner. "We do not have full drug rehab centres," he said.
The doctor said tuberculosis is a huge problem because of its multi-drug resistance as it breaches the first and second line of defence.
