Aruna, who was diagnosed with HIV, receives free medical care at the OBI-supported HIV/AIDS Nireekshana clinic.

Since opening in 2004, the Nireekshana health care center has been providing ongoing holistic care to more than 1,000 HIV-infected residents.

HYDERABAD, India - Seven months pregnant, Aruna sought help at a local government health clinic. All she wanted was a routine checkup.

She left with news that changed her life – she was HIV positive.

Aruna was asked to leave the clinic without further medical care. Soon after, the 21-year-old found out her husband, Srinivas, 30, was also HIV positive. Fortunately, their unborn daughter was spared from being infected with the disease.

As Aruna's health deteriorated, Srinivas sold all their possessions to pay for medical treatment. But the money soon ran out and the clinics refused to care for them. With a weakened immune system due to HIV, Srinivas became infected with tuberculosis and, at age 36, died.

With nowhere else to turn, a friend of Aruna's knew where to find help and referred her to the free OBI-supported HIV/AIDS Nireekshana clinic.

Aruna came expecting the worst.

"Why would someone give free medicine to HIV patients?" she asked. "Who cares about us?"

At the clinic, patients are tested for HIV/AIDS as well as treated for a number of opportunistic infections brought on by the virus such as tuberculosis, respiratory infections and malaria.

"It is the love and care that makes Nireekshana a special place for those who are turned away from society," said Kumar Periasamy, director for Operation Blessing India.

The OBI-supported clinic started in the home of Dr. Sujai Suneetha and his wife, Dr. Lavanya, who together have spent more than 20 years reaching out to India's "social outcasts" in the areas of leprosy, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

The clinic's name means "hope," and since opening in 2004, the Nireekshana health care center has been providing ongoing holistic care to more than 1,000 HIV-infected residents in Hyderabad, India.

Aruna and others now receive monthly care from the clinic that includes counseling and emotional support as well as free medicine, vitamins and other supplements to maintain a healthy immune system.

"We are estimating the number of patients will increase to nearly 2,000 a month by the end of this year," Periasamy said.

Today, Aruna works as a research assistant for a local non-profit and, thanks to the free medicine she receives from the clinic, is healthy and able to take care of her 7-year-old daughter, Rupika.

"For the first time, I felt loved and cared for," Aruna said. "I was given a warm welcome and treated well."

Staff writer Sarah Pate contributed to this report.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
Be a part of OBI's ongoing medical relief efforts by making an online contribution to help those suffering from extreme poverty and sickness.

 

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