After two days, making endless and countless calls, I finally get hold of Dr Krishna Kumar Rai (MBBS, MD, GP, MPH), Director of the National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC). Finally, I get hold of him in what I’ve been calling “an unprofessional way.” I texted him and this is the last thing I would ever do because I just feel texting sources doesn’t set professional standards. But here, I think if you start talking about professionalism and ethics, you’ll just be left behind. So I text him and he replies me back: “Tomorrow 9 am ok give me a call at 8 am if possible.”
The next morning, I followed his instruction. I called him at 8 o’clock. He asked me to come to Hotel Soaltee at 10:30 am where he could excuse himself from a meeting for a while. Happy that I finally got hold of the director, I reached there well ahead of time and kept waiting, waiting and waiting for more than an hour. I mean, I don’t mind waiting.
Sometimes you just have to wait for people for hours to get one quote. But in this case, the NCASC director just didn’t show up. I texted him again and he still said, “Coming.” But he never came, or he came and just didn’t think it was important to talk to a reporter.
This isn’t the first time I’ve been through this situation; I’ve faced these problems while dealing with government officials. And I have never been able to understand what the government officials think of us. I mean he could have just said that he was busy and couldn’t make it. I would have happily looked for some other source. But at the last minute, he agreed to do the interview and didn’t even have the courage to back out, let aside the courtesy to call or text for not making up to his promises. If someone like him, a government official, cannot fulfill his obligation to talk to the press, schedule an interview with a reporter and then back out without any information, I wonder about the promises made for combatting HIV/AIDS.
The current state of HIV/AIDS
NCASC, a government body, estimates 16,238 people to be positive among the estimated total positive of 64,352 as of July 2010. But a report by USAID/Nepal published in October 2010 estimates that there are 70,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, according to UNAIDS and National Estimates, and this is the 2007 data. The government has also been involved in providing Antiretroviral Treatment Therapy to the patients. But a recent news report points that out of 6,754 patients who took the treatment only 4,509 have been continuing; this year alone, 426 patients have discontinued the free medication. According to the latest estimate, only 11 percent of the people living with HIV/AIDS receive treatment.
And these were some of the grounds for my questions. But unfortunately, the director was too busy in attending meetings that he couldn’t spare 15 minutes that I had clearly stated. Looking at the amount of time he spends at these meetings, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS should have been hitting record low.
Here I am not bashing the man or have anything against him. I’m just mad for the fact that people, even at higher levels of authority, don’t have any respect our profession. But more than respect to the profession, they should have respect for their own position – after all, they are the ones who are there to answer the questions we, the people, have. They are accountable and that’s what they are there for, regardless of their busy schedules.
It’s not about me not getting one interview and my story getting killed at the last minute, but it’s about respecting the value of time, being true to your words, and at least have the courtesy to say if something doesn’t work out.
Is that too much to ask for?
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