Around five years ago, Ravi Kittur, a senior counsellor at the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre of the district hospital here, stumbled upon something that shook him to the core.
He found that a couple of his male patients suffering from HIV had married women by hiding details of their infection. It was the moment that encouraged him to find a lasting and effective solution for HIV+ patients who desire to tie the knot. “I decided to make sure that all my HIV-infected unmarried patients, who wished to marry, would marry only other HIV-infected persons.”
Mr. Kittur has got 25 couples infected by HIV to be happily married since.
On the first marriage he arranged five years ago, Mr. Kittur said he had met a 26-year-old HIV-infected patient who wanted to get married but not to someone he would end up transmitting the virus to. “When he expressed his desire to me, I thought of doing something for him. I found an unmarried woman who was also my patient and convinced her to get married. Since her father had died years ago, I met her mother and convinced her to let her daughter marry my patient. The proposal was accepted and in week, we arranged a simple wedding,” he said.
According to Mr. Kittur, the couple have a four-year-old son today. “The couple have given my name to their son,” he said with a tinge of happiness and pride.
After this, he said, he found many such others looking to start a family. “I felt so blessed in arranging these marriages. In the past five years, I have got some 25 marriages arranged between HIV-infected couples,” he said.
Preventing spread
He said getting married is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of HIV. “Loneliness sometimes overpowers [HIV+ people] so much that they either marry by hiding the truth or continue to have sex with multiple partners, thereby spreads HIV,” he said.
“By getting married, these couples can have children, and prevention of spread of HIV to unborn babies is easy today using medicines,” he added.
He said that today, he has a list of around 2,500 HIV-infected persons, including over 900 women, who wish to get married. “I am doing my best to bring such people together. Though I face some trouble, as a majority want their life partner to be from their own caste, I try my best to convince them to accept inter-caste marriage. Nonetheless, I have so far been successful in getting 25 couples to marry. Since I consider it sacred work, I will continue to do it as long as my health permits,” Mr. Kittur said. He can be contacted on 92414 14899.
