Wang Yuanyuan

    HIV carriers are struggling to receive medical treatment regardless of their reason for going to hospital.

    Most 3A hospitals in Shenzhen and Guangzhou refuse to operate on HIV carriers and some even refuse to give the most basic treatment, said Ah Feng, a member of a Shenzhen-based charity for HIV carriers.

    "I was rejected by the five biggest hospitals when I had kidney stones in 2008. Once, they pushed me away from the operation table after they had given me drugs," said Ah Feng.

    Ah Feng's experience is not unique in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. "Some hospitals transfer the patients to our hospital immediately after knowing they are HIV carriers, claiming it is for the sake of other patients' health," said Cai Weiping, director of the infectious disease department at Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital, which specializes in AIDS and other infectious diseases.

    Although the No. 8 hospital is known for curing AIDS, some of its other departments such as the medical department, dermatology department and gastric and intestine department were below the standards of a medium-level hospital in Guangzhou, said Wu Fengyan, a HIV carrier who suffers from kidney failure.

    "We are a specialist hospital, many of our departments lack the facilities to conduct major surgery," said Cai.

According to a State regulation on AIDS prevention, medical organizations cannot refuse to treat HIV carriers.

    However, some hospitals think of other excuses for refusing to give treatment. Hospitals would be creative in finding reasons to transfer the students to the No. 8 hospital, said Cai.

    Ah Feng thought that this discrimination could be extremely dangerous for doctors and hospitals.

    Because of the discrimination, many HIV carriers choose to hide their condition when seeing doctors at other hospitals. This could be risky to doctors as they would not take any preventative measures.

    "I think there should be a more reasonable system to deal with the situation so that HIV carriers can get treatment in time and medical staff’s safety can be considered," said Ah Feng.