KARACHI, Nov 28: What is the use of an ambitious AIDS control programme which does not provide to the people living with Human Immuno deficiency Virus (HIV) the drugs that could help them live longer?

This is what Mr Y asked while talking to Dawn the other day. The 27-year-old Burmese man, who was deported from the United Arab Emirates more than four years ago, said the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) had already been provided with funds by international agencies to acquire anti-retroviral drugs for 400 Pakistanis infected with the HIV.

"So, the money is very much there. However, the chief of the NACP is resorting to delaying tactics when it comes to providing the badly-needed drugs. I wonder why?" he said.

Mr Y claimed that when his immune system became too weak to sustain his body, he would simply go to the NACP's headquarters and kill himself. "It would be better to lay down my life instead of waiting for a slow and painful death."

When asked how he had contracted the HIV, Mr Y said: "I was probably infected by one of the several call girls in Dubai with whom I had sex." Answering a question, Mr Y said that he used to work for one of the factories in Dubai.

"One day I was diagnosed as having appendicitis for which my doctors advised an operation. But before the operation could take place my blood was tested. In one of these tests it was revealed that I had HIV, I think." Once the doctors realized that he was infected, he was put behind bars where he remained for six to seven days.

After a week under detention, he was deported to Pakistan. "Originally, my family is from Burma. However, the authorities did not send me to Burma but to Pakistan because I had a Pakistani passport," he added.

Mr Y said almost all his close relatives were in the United Arab Emirates. "I had never heard of HIV or AIDS. So, it never occurred to me that my behaviour could land me in trouble. Very few people in Dubai are infected with the HIV. That's why there is very little awareness among the people there about this problem."

He said the day he was deported from Dubai was a particularly difficult one for him. "You see, almost all my close relatives live in the United Arab Emirates. That is why I left the UAE with a very heavy heart."

He said he was living with one of his cousins in Pakistan. "Here in Pakistan I do my best to occupy myself with whatever I can do. Still, loneliness haunts me." Answering a question, he said he had been fired four or five times due to his status as a HIV positive person.

"Initially, I used to tell some of my colleagues of my health problems. And each time I did so, somehow my bosses got wind of what was being discussed and I was fired." He said that he had not told anything about his condition at the place he was working currently. "I now have made up my mind that I will never discuss my health at the place of my work," he claimed.

In response to another question, Mr Y said he took care that he did not infect others. "In case I go to a doctor and he administers an injection, I make sure that the syringe is destroyed before I leave the place," he said and claimed that he had not sex since contracting the HIV.

He said he was yet to experience the symptoms that were normally associated with full-blown AIDS cases. He said, "I know for sure that the clock is ticking so I am sad and depressed most of the time."

Turning back to the issue of anti-retroviral drugs, Mr Y said he advocated the distribution of these medicines among the infected people at every meeting or workshop he was invited to. "I raise this issue at every opportunity I get. That is why I am not liked much by the National AIDS Control Programme."

Meanwhile, Mirza Aleem Beg, the chief of the NGO General and Reproductive Health Forum, told this reporter that anti-retroviral drugs prolonged an infected person's life by arresting the growth of HIV in his or her body. He added that several Pakistanis 'imported' the drugs from India because they were sold at much cheaper rates there.

"In Pakistan, monthly cost of these drugs comes around Rs30,000. In India, on the other hand, the cost is only Rs4,000. That is why some infected people buy the drugs from khepias who bring these over in personal baggage from across the border," he added.

He was of the opinion that the government should first ensure that the drugs were sold openly in Pakistan at cheaper rates. "Secondly, the health authorities should use the funds at their disposal to provide as soon as possible anti-retroviral drugs to those who are in need."

In a daring broadside against the NACP chief, Mr Beg said: "Until and unless the incumbent head of the programme is removed, you will not see much improvement.

This is so because she has created groups in every province which support her in all her wrong doings." Mr Beg concluded by saying that 'vested interest' was the main reason behind the shortcomings of the AIDS control programme.