Kyrgyzstan: Victims Still Seeking Justice for Infant HIV Outbreak

Two years ago, negligence and greed were behind scandals at two hospitals in southern Kyrgyzstan that left at least 122 children infected with HIV. As they face the grim possibility of an early death, many are still waiting for those responsible for the infections to be punished.

Bekhruzbek, an infant at the time, was one of the victims. He was originally taken to a hospital in the southern city of Nookat for treatment of a common cold. He contracted HIV when hospital staff reused a catheter in treating him, according to findings by a committee investigating the outbreak.

"Doctors sold us a catheter for 100 som [$2.50]," Bekhruzbek's mother, Dilfuza, told EurasiaNet. "I saw the nurse taking a used pack from a fridge. She certainly didn't open a new one. It later turned out that they [used] the same catheter on 10-15 people. That's how they made money."

After Bekhruzbek was infected, the nursing baby passed along the HIV virus to his mother. These doctors and nurses "destroyed our life" for a few hundred soms, Dilfuza cries. She says that if parents did not buy catheters from medical staff, and instead were asked to bring their own, the HIV outbreak would not have happened. "They must be all brought to justice. They must be punished," she said.

Clearly, no retribution can fix lives shattered by HIV. For now, Dilfuza tries to provide her son with the best care she can find. They both take vitamins to boost their immune systems. But she is worried about the future. "My other kids already ask me why I give pills to Bekhruzbek every day. I try to explain that otherwise he would have a headache. But what will I tell Bekhruzbek when he grows up and asks the same question?"

At first, it was not the HIV diagnosis that most alarmed Dilfuza, but the fear of public scorn that often surrounds those who are infected. In the small villages of the Nookat region, ignorance about HIV is common. Most people believe infections are only found among drug addicts and prostitutes. Dilfuza's husband and his family were not an exception. When they learned Dilfuza and Bekhruzbek were HIV-positive, they assumed Dilfuza had cheated on her husband, a serious crime in a conservative region.

"The very first night after learning about my HIV test results we went to bed," Dilfuza recalled. "My leg touched the leg of my husband and he furiously kicked me. It was like a knife that stabbed me inside. I cannot forget that moment."

In some cases, husbands left their wives after they found out they were HIV positive. Some mothers still hide their babies' HIV status from their families, afraid it will be revealed, fearing they will be blamed.

Dilfuza and her husband quarreled. He went to Russia in search of work. She couldn't handle the pressure from her in-laws and moved out of their home. She now raises her three children alone.

Fatima Koshokova, head of Rainbow, a non-governmental organization based in southern Kyrgyzstan, conducts seminars to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. She was shocked how little the villagers of Nookat knew about the illness. "They believed the virus can be transmitted by touching, by using a plate of an infected person, through sneezing and coughing," Koshokova said. Such myths create fear amongst people, she added. And fear leads to discrimination.

Rainbow teaches some of the basic facts about HIV: those with the virus may live for many years and that they are not dangers to society if certain measures are taken to prevent blood contact. After her in-laws attended the Rainbow workshops, Dilfuza tried to reconcile with them, without luck. For them, Dilfuza is still a danger to be shunned.

Dilfuza panics every time Bekhruzbek gets sick. Each time she hurries to the hospital, she remembers how all her troubles started right there. And each time Dilfuza waxes indignant over the medical staff she blames for the whole tragedy.

In August 2008, 14 medical workers in the region were charged with negligence and fraud. Nine were found guilty and sentenced to prison terms. But the trial considered only 24 of the 122 infections that are attributed to the incident. Other families are demanding their cases be investigated and tried as well.

Some experts believe that although corruption and negligence of medical workers were important in explaining the outbreak, they were not the only cause.

The system has failed, says Jadranka Mimica, UNICEF's HIV/AIDS adviser for Central Asia. It is not just a few individuals. "Post-Soviet Central Asia inherited procedures where [medical workers] prescribe a huge amount of injections. There is a lot of unnecessary blood work during the process of treatment. Thus, the risk of infecting [patients with HIV] is very high," she said.

The Nookat outbreak was preceded by a similar incident in southern Kazakhstan where more than a hundred children were infected with the virus in similar circumstances. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Recent unconfirmed reports describe a similar spate of infections in neighboring Uzbekistan.

Mimica views the lack of medical supplies and old-fashioned equipment as the main factors behind such outbreaks. "If you need to make an injection and you don't have new supplies, what else can you do?" she asked. "It is absolutely necessary to pay more attention to the problem of medical supplies."