My name is Bojo Jam Paite. I am 29 years old and from Manipur state in India (bordering with Burma). I was a hard-core heroin mainliner and have been HIV-positive for ten years.
I got off of drugs in rehab and have been clean for 8 years now. I have worked as a manager and counsellor at the rehab center for the past 3 years. During that time I started a care home called the "Life-Challenge Centre" for people living with HIV and AIDS.
Most of my patients are also co-infected with TB. I am very close to my patients and I have become their trusted friend. Most of them are very weak and I've seen what they have been through.
In May 2004 I accompanied one of the patients to hospital for a check-up. I felt unwell that day. I had a high temperature. I was more sick than my patients, but I felt that I had to be strong in front of them. I felt a lump on the left hand side of my neck, just below my ear. The next day I was found to have active TB.
Many thoughts played on my mind. the first thing was that I shall be
weak and I therefore won't be able to work. I kept praying and
reminding myself to hold my head up. The fear of losing my job haunted me. I couldn't think of anything else, even though I was surrounded by friends and other TB patients. I felt lonely and I didn't know where to turn.
I started treatment for TB right away which I needed to take for 6 months. Due to some of the medication I developed a rash, dizziness and confussion. By God's grace I was taken care of my the medical staff where I was working. I finished the course of treatment and I now dedicate my time to mainly sputum positive people (people who have TB in their phlegm).
(In India people who are sputum positive are not kept in hospital more than 3 days.) Many of them are very poor. When they get back home the problems worsen. (For example a one bedroom house shared by 4-5 people.) Looking back now I find myself a more strong, yet humble person.
I am not a medical person, but my experience in this field has told me that MDR-TB is entirely man-made. The culprits are where treatment has been poorly managed, or that treatment regimens have not been directly observed.
Also, patients who have not been successfully treated after two courses are neglected by healthcare workers and most of them are not refered to specialist TB institutions. This has led to many people dying in my home town of Manipur."
