New HIV/Aids clinic offers help without stigma or judgement for Hongkongers
- HIV and Aids still carry much stigma, mainly due to ignorance, especially about transmission and infection
- Pulse Clinics are sexual health care venues for the LGBT community, helping patients without judging them
Discrimination against sexual minorities is rife in health care facilities in Asia. A jarring encounter at a hospital in Thailand in 2014 prompted Dr Deyn Natthakhet Yaemim to open an alternative venue in which LGBT community members like him are treated sensitively and, importantly, can access health care with ease.
After a night of drinking led to a session of unprotected sex, Deyn, in his 20s at the time, visited a Bangkok hospital to get an emergency anti-HIV drug known as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). This antiretroviral medication significantly reduces the chance of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, if taken within 72 hours of exposure.
The reaction from a nurse as he explained his predicament took him aback. “Are you gay? How can you behave like that?” she demanded to know, asking shame-inflicting questions in quick succession, including, “Why are you gay?”
Only after a lengthy inquisition did Deyn get the medication. “I don’t want that to happen to anyone,” he said, explaining how that incident eventually led him to open Pulse Clinic in Bangkok in 2015.
The recently opened Pulse Clinic in Central, Hong Kong – the fourth outpost Deyn has set up – welcomes patients from the LGBT community. Its motto is “Here to help, not to judge.” Expect friendly and discreet services. “We won’t blame or reject them, or refuse them treatment that they need,” Deyn says.
Cultivating open communication is vital to encourage patients to reveal relevant information for a doctor to prescribe an effective health strategy.