'YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!'Some time ago, one of my clients who was seriously ill and admitted to hospital was told point blank: "this is the last bottle of blood you are having today until we clearly know your immigration status. Treating you is eating into our budget!"
The poor girl was distraught despite assurances from nurses that they would contact a sympathetic organisation to handle her case. She cried until she ran out of tears and became very weak and pale. The nurses in the hospital ward contacted the Uganda Aids Action Fund and the case was then passed on to me.
It wasn't going to be easy because at the time I wasn't feeling too well myself - you know living with HIV you have your good and bad days. Still, I somehow managed to convince the authorities that HIV was classified as an emergency and that they had to continue providing the girl with treatment.
The most difficult part however in this case was that the pressure was actually coming from the hospital's finance department and not from the very helpful doctors and nurses. The last time I spoke to the man from the finance department, I told him, "if this lady dies we shall hold the funeral at your house until the arrival of relatives and the burial ceremony!" He must have got the message because the lady was treated and she eventually recovered.
But did she really have to go through all this? I don't think so.
There was another recent case of a client experiencing treatment difficulties due to financial restraints. This second case was of a man who was seriously ill and had been in the intensive care unit. The authorities insisted that the man had to pay for the services. His sister obliged and paid almost £800 because the man had no recourse to public funds. I enquired from some sources how charges were arrived at and was told that the ICU alone costs about £1,000 per night. I was really frightened at the calculations and figures and wondered whether if I was in that situation I would survive?
I have cited these examples to stress that at certain hospital units, there do not seem to be any clear guidelines when it comes to emergency ailments and who can have treatment for them. Doctors and other supporting staff members seem ready to assist, but their hands are tied due to pressure from the finance departments of hospitals. The guidelines must be explained clearly to hospital staff, especially those from the finance department, instead of them walking up to patients' beds with pocket calculators as though calculating a person's number of days on this lovely planet.
Africans are still suffering from poor access to treatment in the UK and I was reminded of these cases even more so at the recent Manchester BHIVA conference. Liz Kawonza, Terrence Higgins Trust's African Health Promotion worker, highlighted some very important issues where treatment and care is concerned for people living with HIV/Aids in this country. This trend of the finance departments taking over hospitals must be stopped and it can only happen if we seek audience perhaps with the Department of Health, because most of these institutions are autonomous.
I will end by saying that I can volunteer to lead and show you where the above incidents happened only by pointing from a distance under a tree... by African arrangement!!
Oh and one other last word. I would like to thank GlaxoSmithKline, my employer Uganda Aids Action Fund, and Boehringer-Ingelheim for enabling me to attend the Manchester BHIVA conference and to arrange some community evening sessions during the event too. Thank you all.
