VHAD Patient stories

Bionice

See picture top right. This is Bionice pictured with her mother Urma. Bionice is one of six, three sisters and two brothers aged 7 to 18, Bionia is 15. Bionia had TB meningitis, which she almost died from. What saved her was the treatment and DOTS supervision provided by the VHAD Ali Extension clinic in Delhi. Bionice’s treatment as well as saving her life also saved the lives of the 10 to 15 people she would of passed TB onto. Bionice's is now back at school where her favourite subject is English. Her mother so touched by the treatment and kindness shown by the Ali clinic that she is now training to become an outreach worker to enable her to help educate and cure others who are affected by TB

Shivam

Shivam, aged 9 years came to a VHAD Treatment Centre in 2004 with TB Meningitis – a form of TB which can be fatal in children.  Those who survive, left untreated can end up paralysed, blind or deaf, or with severe brain damage.  Luckily Shivam’s TB was identified early.  He started treatment but because of side effects such as fever and vomiting his mother wanted to stop the treatment.  The health care workers persuaded her that although it was upsetting it would be worse to discontinue the treatment, as his TB could become drug-resistant, and he may die.  Now after four months later Shivam’s condition has improved dramatically and he is bright and chirpy and comes to the centre by himself for his treatment.  The government provides the drugs and the diagnosis in Delhi, but it is the personal attention and follow-up of cases that TB Alert’s funding allows, which means that patients do not stop their treatment if they get side effects, or when they feel better. 

Roshan Lal

Rohsan Lal was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis 3 years ago. He had taken TB treatment before but had done so irregularly due to being unable to get to the clinic during his working day (8am – 4pm), the only time the clinic was open.  As a consequence Roshan had to decide between his health and keeping his job. Then Roshan found out about the VHAD clinic, which he was able to attend on Monday evenings after work. Roshan has now been educated in the importance of taking his medicine regularly and for the full duration of the treatment (6 - 8 months). Taking his full course of medicine at the correct times means there is less chance that Roshan’s TB will develop into MDR-TB (Multi-Drug Resistant TB) strain.   Many other patients in this area have similar problems because most of them are daily paid workers with no contract - if they do not turn up for the full day they will have no money for the day.  VHAD's DOTS centres provide the medicines at timing convenient for the patient.