AIDS activists act up at the K.H.M.H.
Even by Belizean standards, it was not a big demonstration. But the picketing on Princess Margaret Drive did mark the first time that advocates for AIDS care and prevention moved from singing songs to chanting protests.
Diane Finnegan, Public Awareness Officer, BOWAND
“I think that there’s a lot of covering up going on. People are not taking responsibility for this issue and it’s really terrifying to know that the hospital itself is not responding to the media, to the people, giving a press release and saying exactly what happened.”
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
And as a response to the people and the families of those who were transfused with HIV infected blood at the K.H.M.H. a little over three weeks ago, the Alliance Against AIDS this morning staged a “Blood on Your Hands” demonstration in front of the hospital and lab on Princess Margaret Drive.
Rodel Beltran Perera, Executive Dir., A.A.A.
“A couple of health personnel have come out and spoken to us and gone back in. We know that they’re at their windows and at their doors looking at what we are doing, and they know the message we are trying to send within their walls. We feel good about it, we feel good about the support so far. We do know that it’s during school time and people are at work, but we’re comfortable with the support so far.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“How about the drivers-by in terms of blowing their horns?”
Rodel Beltran Perera
“Support from them has been excellent. That is where the majority of the support is coming from. They’ve seen out placards, they’ve seen our messages and they’ve tooted their horns in support.”
The placard supporters were small in number, but their message was large.
Garth Parham, S.J.C. Student
“I’m here in support because I really believe that for a country, and this is our national hospital, that something like this should not happen. We need to do something about this situation.”
Beltran Perera says those responsible must be held accountable.
Rodel Beltran Perera
“People are messing up, and it has got to stop. The discrimination has got to stop at the hospital. Nurses and doctors have got to get involved and have to put some kind of compassion in their hearts. Another thing too, we know that discrimination is as far as people dying from AIDS are being buried in plastic bags in Orange Walk. This has got to stop, and this is solidarity in all those issues, not only those people that have been contaminated with blood at institutions, finding out who is to blame and finding out who that person is and get rid of it.”
The “Blood on Your Hands” solidarity march ended at 12:00 noon today in Belize City. Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
To absolutely nobody’s surprise, the tests run on the three K.H.M.H. patients who received the AIDS tainted blood have come back positive for HIV infection. Two month old baby Andy Myers has died of unrelated causes, while the other two recipients of the lethal blood, a thirty-two year old mother of five and a six year old girl, are receiving treatment in the form of anti-retroviral drugs. Authorities have committed to continuing the expensive care indefinitely. What they have not yet done is explain to a concerned public precisely how the infected blood came to be administered in the first place.
