Sometimes, one incident can change the course of a person’s life forever. It can nudge you to examine the deeper purpose of your life and take the road less travelled to bring about a change. Director of ASHA Foundation Dr Glory Alexander experienced one such incident. ASHA Foundation is a Bangalore-based non-profit working for the welfare of HIV-positive individuals. In an exclusive interview with Soulveda, Dr Glory talks about her work at ASHA and what keeps her going.
Was there any incident in your career that made a lasting impact on you?
I had just joined a Bangalore-based hospital as a consultant in medicine in 1987. One day, during my rounds, I found a patient who was breathless. His tongue and nails had turned blue and he was going into respiratory failure. But I could not figure out what the problem was. When I was about to leave, he asked me, “Doctor, could it be AIDS?” I did not know what to say. In 1987, AIDS was not even in the medical syllabus. I went to the library and read about the illness in The Oxford Textbook of Medicine. And it all fell into place.
The patient had the typical symptoms of pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), a condition that generally occurs in people who are HIV positive. Without wasting more time, I sent his blood sample to the Christian Medical College, Vellore, and started treating him for PCP. About 36 hours after we had admitted him, he passed away. Later, the blood test results confirmed he had indeed been HIV positive.
It was such a sad way to die–in an alien country, thousands of miles away from his home. I couldn’t stop thinking about him long after he was gone. This case affected me deeply.
You set up ASHA Foundation way back in 1998 when AIDS was a relatively new concept in India. What motivated you?
I had always thought that I would take up social work after I retire. Back then, AIDS had a huge impact on the medical community. It was a problem that haunted people. It got me thinking, ‘Why wait till I retire? Why not do something now?’ Then, I started treating AIDS patients at a Bangalore hospital after 1994. I was discharging a couple after treating them, when they confessed to me that they had no place to go as their family had disowned them. I realised how grim the situation was. That is when I thought I should do something about it. It was a huge decision for me to leave the safe environs of a hospital and step into the unknown. Yet, I felt compelled to do it. Four years later, I started ASHA Foundation.
Could you tell us about the initial days of the foundation?
In 1998, we saw few cases as AIDS was still new. But there was a growing concern that the disease would soon spread. So, I felt the need to provide a range of services to address the threat of misinformation and stigma. I travelled to Chennai to study the AIDS helpline set up by the state government. Then, I returned to Bangalore to raise funds and set up a helpline here.
When I was in the hospital, patients were waiting to see me. But once I started the foundation, I found myself waiting for corporates to provide me with funds. That was a big change for me. It made me more human and humble. I have learnt so much from these men, women and children.
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