Nicaragua: Discrimination: Miskito Indian claims that when the doctor learned he was HIV positive, he was asked to leave the office

August 7^th, 2009, Didier Becker Alvarez, a young Miskito Indian who works with an NGO giving his testimony to schools and communities, went to see a doctor for blisters on his back and a fever at one of the Nicaraguan social security health clinics (called a “previsional clinic” in that system) in the city of Bilwi. Yet, he was forced to leave the office when he told the doctor of his HIV positive condition.

The following are the facts according to Didier, starting from the moment the doctor asked him to fill out a form, while asking him a few questions:

“…One of the questions concerned whether I was taking any medication. I told her I was taking antiretrovirals since I am a PLWHA. She immediately put her papers aside and asked me two more questions. She then asked me to leave her office and sit and wait for her in the clinic’s waiting room because they did not attend patients with HIV…”

Didier tells us further “…it was clear discrimination on the part of the doctor when she found out I live with HIV because she should not have asked me to leave the office. I waited for several minutes in the waiting room even though I was feeling very ill. Then the doctor showed up with a nurse and told me she (the nurse) was going to help me. In spite of everything, the nurse told the doctor that the clinic does indeed treat patients with HIV or any other disease. She then asked the doctor why she did not want to treat me. The doctor gave her a thousand reasons and finally did not treat me.”  

The Nicaraguan human rights group CEDEHCA helped Didier lodge a complaint from his home. His health has deteriorated greatly because he lacks medical attention.

The previsional clinic has received the complaint, and Andaluz Sanchez, coordinator of the social security clinics in Bilwi, said that an investigation into the case has been launched to discover the facts of Didier’s case. “The Commission for Ethics and Quality is already working on the case. We will submit a report to Centuriano Knight of the Regional Counsel’s Commission in the Fight against AIDS. The idea is to produce an objective report to the accusation…”

There have also been other complaints of discrimination lodged against this same health center.  

Source: La Prensa. August 24

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