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Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 12:28 am
by CEOCambodiaNews
The death of a man recently released from Prey Speu detention centre has drawn attention to the lack of medical care and facilities for those who are rounded up and detained at the Phnom Penh centre by the authorities, mostly the poor and homeless, drug addicts and sex-workers. The allegation by NGO workers of death caused by medical neglect is denied by the centre's director.

Man Dies After Detention Without HIV Medication, Methadone
-A recovering drug user with HIV died 10 days after he walked out of Prey Speu detention center in Phnom Penh, a death an NGO worker attributed to his being denied access to medication and methadone treatment while he was locked up for more than a month.

Thhan Dang, a former heroin user living on the capital’s streets, left Prey Speu on May 2 and died on the street on May 12, Taing Venghui, a community educator with NGO Korsang, said earlier this week.

“The reason that he died was because his health had become really weak. It became weak because he couldn’t receive [anti-retroviral therapy] and methadone,” Mr. Venghui said. “If he wasn’t arrested, he wouldn’t have died.”

Police said a doctor had examined the body and ruled Thhan Dang’s death was the result of a heart attack...

https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/man- ... ne-130372/

Re: Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 9:35 pm
by StroppyChops
Given Cambodia's solid response to HIV I find it very hard to believe he was denied his medication in prison. Further, if a month off his tablets caused him to fail, it is unlikely the detention actually caused his death.

Re: Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 10:18 pm
by jeff59
Typically, a hard drug user is not going to comply with taking his meds properly. I have known people who stopped taking their meds for many reasons-
Some people stop taking them because of side effects---
In order to know if the virus had anything to do with his death you would need to know his CD4 count and viral load--
if his CD4 count was below 200--then he would of moved on to AIDS rather simply being hiv positive.
Another key factor is if he did have issues taking his meds then it is possible that the meds he was taking were not working because the virus had built up an immunity to the particular meds he was on.
This is why you must get hiv poz people to stop their high risk behavior---whether it be hard drugs---alcoholism---or multiple partner unprotected sex-
Chances are he was still using dirty needles and was very very sick before he was incarcerated -
He was wasting away and way past the hiv stages.
30 days without meds is simply an excuse---it sure as hell is not the cause of his death--

Re: Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 10:20 pm
by StroppyChops
jeff59 wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 10:18 pm Typically, a hard drug user is not going to comply with taking his meds properly. I have known people who stopped taking their meds for many reasons-
Some people stop taking them because of side effects---
In order to know if the virus had anything to do with his death you would need to know his CD4 count and viral load--
if his CD4 count was below 200--then he would of moved on to AIDS rather simply being hiv positive.
Another key factor is if he did have issues taking his meds then it is possible that the meds he was taking were not working because the virus had built up an immunity to the particular meds he was on.
This is why you must get hiv poz people to stop their high risk behavior---whether it be hard drugs---alcoholism---or multiple partner unprotected sex-
Chances are he was still using dirty needles and was very very sick before he was incarcerated -
He was wasting away and way past the hiv stages.
30 days without meds is simply an excuse---it sure as hell is not the cause of his death--
:good:

Re: Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 10:37 pm
by John Bingham
StroppyChops wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 9:35 pm Given Cambodia's solid response to HIV I find it very hard to believe he was denied his medication in prison. Further, if a month off his tablets caused him to fail, it is unlikely the detention actually caused his death.

Those detention centers are notorious for terrible conditions, neglect and abuse, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he was just thrown in a corner and forgotten about. However, he didn't die there, and this passage pretty much says it all:


His last interaction with Korsang outreach staff was on May 8 (he was released on May 2 and died on May 12), when he participated in a needle exchange at a hotspot for users, ”where they meet and inject drugs,” Mr. Phoeuk said.

“We tried to get him back on the methadone” and anti-retroviral therapy, Mr. Phoeuk said. “He was not ready, I think. He wanted it, but not at that moment.”

Outreach staff planned to meet him again, he added, but four days later Thhan Dang was dead. He had received methadone treatment at Khmer-Soviet Hospital on the day he died, Mr. Venghui said.

That morning, after receiving his dose, “he walked out from the hospital and then he walked to where he was found dead” on a sidewalk near Phsar Olympic.


I live near the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital and know a few people who work there. One friend works in the HIV outreach program, and they have a huge number of outpatients. As in thousands. There are quite a few living-dead types wandering around scavenging etc. Many look like they are suffering from starvation more than anything, but then nobody ever developed a healthy diet from heroin or meth. I feel sorry for these people but also can't help being being repulsed and freaked out by them. At the same time my home city has way more than I've ever seen here, and they are far more of a nuisance.

Re: Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Tue May 30, 2017 10:40 pm
by StroppyChops
John Bingham wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 10:37 pm
StroppyChops wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 9:35 pm Given Cambodia's solid response to HIV I find it very hard to believe he was denied his medication in prison. Further, if a month off his tablets caused him to fail, it is unlikely the detention actually caused his death.

Those detention centers are notorious for terrible conditions, neglect and abuse, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he was just thrown in a corner and forgotten about. However, he didn't die there, and this passage pretty much says it all:


His last interaction with Korsang outreach staff was on May 8 (he was released on May 2 and died on May 12), when he participated in a needle exchange at a hotspot for users, ”where they meet and inject drugs,” Mr. Phoeuk said.

“We tried to get him back on the methadone” and anti-retroviral therapy, Mr. Phoeuk said. “He was not ready, I think. He wanted it, but not at that moment.”

Outreach staff planned to meet him again, he added, but four days later Thhan Dang was dead. He had received methadone treatment at Khmer-Soviet Hospital on the day he died, Mr. Venghui said.

That morning, after receiving his dose, “he walked out from the hospital and then he walked to where he was found dead” on a sidewalk near Phsar Olympic.


I live near the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital and know a few people who work there. One friend works in the HIV outreach program, and they have a huge number of outpatients. As in thousands. There are quite a few living-dead types wandering around scavenging etc. Many look like they are suffering from starvation more than anything, but then nobody ever developed a healthy diet from heroin or meth. I feel sorry for these people but also can't help being being repulsed and freaked out by them. At the same time my home city has way more than I've ever seen here, and they are far more of a nuisance.
We befriended one of those thousands, who is coincidentally also suffering with TB (a not uncommon pairing) and were feeding her and checking on her condition weekly, as well as paying for trusted motodops to ensure she got to her medical appointments. She's very much as you describe, one of the living-dead. No surprises, but it turned out the more we supported her, the more she spent her own money on gambling. This was a hard lesson for us to learn about working in poverty alleviation.

Re: Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 11:09 am
by CEOCambodiaNews
StroppyChops wrote: Given Cambodia's solid response to HIV I find it very hard to believe he was denied his medication in prison. Further, if a month off his tablets caused him to fail, it is unlikely the detention actually caused his death.
Perhaps the authorities have changed tactics ? Has anyone seen this video ?

Methadone Users Arrested Near Clinic, NGO Says
June 14, 2017
Outside the gates of Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, where the nation’s only licensed methadone provider is located, authorities rounded up drug users into a caged truck, a video from the scene on Monday shows.

About seven people were arrested for sleeping on the street and using drugs, the district security guard chief said on Tuesday. The arrests outside the Phnom Penh public hospital have now left some users of methadone, a heroin substitute used to treat addiction, fearful they also could be arrested, according to an NGO and drug users sitting outside the Center for Mental Health and Drug Dependence, the hospital’s methadone clinic, on Tuesday morning.

Video footage of the arrests posted online shows people—a few of them holding babies—outside the hospital and inside a caged truck branded with the Social Affairs Ministry’s insignia. One man attempts to exit the cage and is grabbed by guards and punched before eventually being pushed back inside.

Taing Phoeuk, executive director of NGO Korsang, which refers drug users to the clinic, posted the video on Facebook on Monday, writing, “These are KORSANG MMT [methadone maintenance treatment] clients who are getting daily dose at the Khmer and Soviet Friendship Hospital being arrested by the police this morning.”...
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/meth ... ys-131316/

Re: Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 12:31 pm
by Duncan
StroppyChops wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 10:40 pm
John Bingham wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 10:37 pm
StroppyChops wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 9:35 pm Given Cambodia's solid response to HIV I find it very hard to believe he was denied his medication in prison. Further, if a month off his tablets caused him to fail, it is unlikely the detention actually caused his death.

Those detention centers are notorious for terrible conditions, neglect and abuse, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he was just thrown in a corner and forgotten about. However, he didn't die there, and this passage pretty much says it all:


His last interaction with Korsang outreach staff was on May 8 (he was released on May 2 and died on May 12), when he participated in a needle exchange at a hotspot for users, ”where they meet and inject drugs,” Mr. Phoeuk said.

“We tried to get him back on the methadone” and anti-retroviral therapy, Mr. Phoeuk said. “He was not ready, I think. He wanted it, but not at that moment.”

Outreach staff planned to meet him again, he added, but four days later Thhan Dang was dead. He had received methadone treatment at Khmer-Soviet Hospital on the day he died, Mr. Venghui said.

That morning, after receiving his dose, “he walked out from the hospital and then he walked to where he was found dead” on a sidewalk near Phsar Olympic.


I live near the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital and know a few people who work there. One friend works in the HIV outreach program, and they have a huge number of outpatients. As in thousands. There are quite a few living-dead types wandering around scavenging etc. Many look like they are suffering from starvation more than anything, but then nobody ever developed a healthy diet from heroin or meth. I feel sorry for these people but also can't help being being repulsed and freaked out by them. At the same time my home city has way more than I've ever seen here, and they are far more of a nuisance.



We befriended one of those thousands, who is coincidentally also suffering with TB (a not uncommon pairing) and were feeding her and checking on her condition weekly, as well as paying for trusted motodops to ensure she got to her medical appointments. She's very much as you describe, one of the living-dead. No surprises, but it turned out the more we supported her, the more she spent her own money on gambling. This was a hard lesson for us to learn about working in poverty alleviation.



I'm doing almost the same thing at the moment. Paying for room , electric and food for a long time friend , who has Aids. and her daughter who looks after her. . I have resorted to visiting them almost every day to give money for food but even though she is just a step away from deaths door , she still manages to smoke. The daughter has no job and I took her to the doctor last week and the scan says she is 18 weeks pregnant . How do Cambodians survive in situations like this.

Well it appears the mother has been pimping out the daughter, so if you are one of those guys who made a sperm deposit 19 weeks ago with a girl around the Pontoon, Soya Mall area, please come back and collect your interest.


Oh,, And it's a baby girl, in case you wanted to know.

Re: Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 12:47 pm
by StroppyChops
Duncan wrote: Wed Jun 14, 2017 12:31 pm
Spoiler:
StroppyChops wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 10:40 pm
John Bingham wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 10:37 pm
StroppyChops wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 9:35 pm Given Cambodia's solid response to HIV I find it very hard to believe he was denied his medication in prison. Further, if a month off his tablets caused him to fail, it is unlikely the detention actually caused his death.

Those detention centers are notorious for terrible conditions, neglect and abuse, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he was just thrown in a corner and forgotten about. However, he didn't die there, and this passage pretty much says it all:


His last interaction with Korsang outreach staff was on May 8 (he was released on May 2 and died on May 12), when he participated in a needle exchange at a hotspot for users, ”where they meet and inject drugs,” Mr. Phoeuk said.

“We tried to get him back on the methadone” and anti-retroviral therapy, Mr. Phoeuk said. “He was not ready, I think. He wanted it, but not at that moment.”

Outreach staff planned to meet him again, he added, but four days later Thhan Dang was dead. He had received methadone treatment at Khmer-Soviet Hospital on the day he died, Mr. Venghui said.

That morning, after receiving his dose, “he walked out from the hospital and then he walked to where he was found dead” on a sidewalk near Phsar Olympic.


I live near the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital and know a few people who work there. One friend works in the HIV outreach program, and they have a huge number of outpatients. As in thousands. There are quite a few living-dead types wandering around scavenging etc. Many look like they are suffering from starvation more than anything, but then nobody ever developed a healthy diet from heroin or meth. I feel sorry for these people but also can't help being being repulsed and freaked out by them. At the same time my home city has way more than I've ever seen here, and they are far more of a nuisance.



We befriended one of those thousands, who is coincidentally also suffering with TB (a not uncommon pairing) and were feeding her and checking on her condition weekly, as well as paying for trusted motodops to ensure she got to her medical appointments. She's very much as you describe, one of the living-dead. No surprises, but it turned out the more we supported her, the more she spent her own money on gambling. This was a hard lesson for us to learn about working in poverty alleviation.


I'm doing almost the same thing at the moment. Paying for room , electric and food for a long time friend , who has Aids. and her daughter who looks after her. . I have resorted to visiting them almost every day to give money for food but even though she is just a step away from deaths door , she still manages to smoke. The daughter has no job and I took her to the doctor last week and the scan says she is 18 weeks pregnant . How do Cambodians survive in situations like this.

Well it appears the mother has been pimping out the daughter, so if you are one of those guys who made a sperm deposit 19 weeks ago with a girl around the Pontoon, Soya Mall area, please come back and collect your interest.


Oh,, And it's a baby girl, in case you wanted to know.
It's tragic, isn't it?

Re: Man with HIV allegedly dies from detention centre's medical neglect.

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:30 pm
by John Bingham
CEOCambodiaNews wrote: Wed Jun 14, 2017 11:09 am
Perhaps the authorities have changed tactics ? Has anyone seen this video ?


A local friend showed me it on Monday. The district guards were grabbing all the drug-addicts who were sleeping in hovels in front of the hospital. I often see them around there, sometimes they move vendors to prevent traffic congestion. There was quite a bit of a struggle from one guy who tried to jump out the door, after he was shoved back in he grabbed a baby as a shield.
Daily wrote:The arrests outside the Phnom Penh public hospital have now left some users of methadone, a heroin substitute used to treat addiction, fearful they also could be arrested
I don't believe they are just arresting anyone who goes to the center, they were just cleaning up the pavement outside the hospital.