Alka, 27, was rushed to a government hospital in Karnataka’s Raichur district after she complained of labour pain. But she was pushed out of the hospital when she disclosed that she was a sex worker. Her baby was stillborn for lack of medical care.

Similar is the story of Kalki, a transgender. She hails from Manipur and is HIV positive. Kalki went to a government hospital for a treatment and the moment she disclosed her identity, the attitude of the hospital staff changed. This was followed by derogatory remarks from the doctor. She was charged Rs 2,000 for the simple treatment of her chapped lips. A hurt Kalki tried to commit suicide.

These and many similar cases were discussed in an event organised by 365x6, a consortium of three organisations led by Praxis and supported by Oxfam. Presenting their pilot study on stigma, discrimination and violation of rights, representatives of state networks of marginal communities like men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers, injected drug users (IDUs) and transgender from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Manipur and Nagaland, narrated facing discrimination at the hands of health care providers.

The pilot study, done by Praxis, tell us that discrimination towards sex workers, transgenders, MSMs, IDUs and HIV+ people has been in the form of denial or delay in health services, overcharging, ill treatment, verbal or physical abuse and breach of confidentiality. Such incidents are common in government hospitals.

Vivek Anand, CEO of Humsafar Trust, a leading community-based organisation representing MSMs and sexual minorities said that dialogue based action is necessary where communities have to evolve an action plan. Policymakers have the responsibility to mandate the resource interventions that bring healthcare providers and marginalised groups on the same platform.

Manohar Elavarthi, executive director, Sangama, Bangalore said, “If policymakers went ahead with pushing the agenda of convergence without sensitising healthcare providers, services meant for marginal communities will not reach them.” He said the trauma that these communities undergo needs to be addressed first.

Samarjit Jana, pioneer and founder of Sex Workers Collective in India said the scope of the study should be widened to understand the trend and area of the problem. He said the poor in our society should be included in the study along with the HIV+ people who do not fall under the category of sex workers, MSMs and transgenders. He also emphasised the need to sensitise people towards these communities.

Speaking on behalf of V-CAN, the Tamil Nadu network of sex workers, MSM and transgender, Bhoomika, also a transgender said that the need of the hour is to understand who they (health care providers and societies) are discriminating. “Are they discriminating a woman, or an HIV+ person, or a transgender? In all the cases human rights are violated,” she said.