A British holidaymaker was reportedly kicked out of his hotel in Cyprus and his bedsheets burned because he is HIV positive.
The middle-aged man, who has not been identified, was taken to a private clinic in the coastal resort of Paphos earlier this month after a fall.
He told the clinic’s staff he was HIV positive and his injury was tended to. But when he returned to his hotel, he was allegedly told he could no longer stay there.
‘He was in fear, in shock, and he was also feeling dizzy,’ Stella Michaelidou, head of the HIV/AIDS Support Centre, told the Daily Mail.
‘A doctor from the clinic called the hotel where the injured man was staying and informed them of his condition. This is a breach of medical confidentiality. It is strictly forbidden.’
‘The clinic informed the hotel to burn the sheets and the bedspread and to disinfect the room.’
‘It’s like in the 80s before we knew what HIV was,’ she added.
‘You may [expect to] find this ignorance in an ordinary person, but in a doctor?’
Word got out that the man was living with HIV, and he was reportedly turned away from several other hotels and even denied treatment at other private clinics. He went five to six days without medication and has since returned to the UK.
The health ministry and medical association have both launched investigations into the incident.
The island’s commissioner for administration and human rights, Eliza Savvidou, said denial of medical care and breach of patient confidentiality were the human rights violations most frequently reported by people living with HIV.
‘Unfortunately, the elements of the case reveal the deeply rooted, widespread and extremely persistent prejudices surrounding the issue of HIV/AIDS and are based on ignorance and lack of information, even by health professionals,’ she said in a statement.
‘Observing medical confidentiality and providing care without discrimination is a fundamental duty of every health professional and administrative staff members at healthcare providers, both public and private. Moreover, respect for human rights of HIV carriers is a basic obligation of the state as a whole.’