India, Nov. 11 -- A 37-year-old HIV-positive patient in need of an emergency appendectomy was allegedly denied timely surgery and made to travel between three civic-run hospitals before receiving treatment elsewhere, prompting the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society (MDACS) to open an inquiry into possible medical negligence and discrimination.

The patient, a resident of Borivali, was admitted to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali on October 31 after complaining of severe abdominal pain. Diagnostic tests, including an ultrasound, indicated sub-acute appendicitis, a condition that generally requires urgent surgical intervention to prevent complications such as infection or rupture. Yet, despite being categorised as an emergency, the surgery ...