For sex workers in Andhra Pradesh’s coastal district of Visakhapatnam,Dr Kootikuppala Surya Rao occupies a divine pedestal. To fight a relentless thoughsuccessful battle against the killer aids—by sticking to the prevention dictum whenno cure is in sight—is a mountainous proposition to say the least. But for Rao, ageneral physician by training, it’s been a passion. Fame came to him when he startedproviding medicare for just Re 1.
He began by providing free counselling to truck drivers operating on NH4, linkingCalcutta to Chennai, at ‘free tea parlours’ opened by him under the banner ofChild Foundation of India, a voluntary organisation. Initially, the truck drivers werereluctant to answer Rao’s queries about their health. But soon their defences gaveway to candour and they began speaking about their medical problems, mostly std and aids.
On an average, more than 5,000 trucks pass through the highway every day and Raodiscovered the fact that 85 per cent of them suffered from some kind of sexual infectionor the other. Says Rao: "Most drivers stop at dhabas on the highway, pick up sexworkers and drop them at the next dhaba." His advice to them to take necessaryprecautions, like using condoms, helped—a sharp drop in std cases was discerned.
Rao is perhaps one of the few Indian doctors who’ve undergone a special trainingprogramme on the subject—‘Caring for aids’, from Manchester Infirmity inthe UK. Says he: "Having seen a lot of poverty and superstition, I wanted to be asocial worker with medical skills." Despite being encumbered by a scepticalfamily—lower middle-class peasants of Kintali village, from the backward Srikakulamdistrict—he graduated from the Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam, did hispost-graduation in family medicine from the Indian Medical Association College, Delhi, andthen took another MD in community medicine from Calcutta. He started out as a privatepractitioner in the late ’70s charging just Re 1 for consultancy, besidesdistributing free medicines.
After his successful awareness campaign among truck drivers, Rao shifted focus to sexworkers and street children. According to him, Andhra Pradesh ranks third in the countryin terms of hiv positive patients with over 1.3 lakh cases having been identified in therecent past—the incidence having doubled during the past three years in Visakhapatnamitself, with a 30 per cent increase in std cases.
Rao and his battery of volunteers are now successfully conducting health camps in someof Visakhapatnam’s ‘red light’ areas, advising the sex workers to takenecessary precautions. According to one of the beneficiaries, Lakshmi (not her real name),regular medical check-ups have helped her keep good health. Says she: "Now we’rewell aware of the precautions and resist any sort of forcible act by our customers. Doctorhas educated us how safe sex can help us live and work without any risk."
There are many others who acknowledge the good work being carried out by Rao. Admits18-year-old Leela (not her real name): "I would’ve fallen prey to dreadeddiseases as my clientele is large and most of them are foreign sailors who stop over fordays together. When I insisted that they take the required precautions, they understoodand behaved like human beings. Of course, there are a few who act like animals. I refusepoint-blank to engage in sex with them."
Rao has studied aids among slum-dwellers and adolescent sex workers in Visakhapatnam. But most of his work is devoted to the 5 million-odd truckers in India. Rao ran three teaparlours for almost a year-and-a-half at inter-state borders to interact with this mobile,vulnerable population. But lack of funds soon smote him. Jeffrey Marck, an Australianexpert on hiv among truckers who heard of Rao’s work at a Canberra seminar, has beentrying to persuade a US truck-stop chain to set up such shops on Indian highways.He’s helped organise more than 300 tea parlours in the past few years.
Rao, however, has moved on. He’s now working with street children, especiallyadolescents, who, according to him, are highly vulnerable to sexually transmittedinfection and aids.
The lonely fight against aids by Rao and those of his ilk, besides praise, deserves abold and informed response from policymakers: that of marrying awareness campaigns with adecision to recognise ‘red light’ areas. If you want to assist Dr Rao in hisefforts, he is available on 910981-558637 or Cell: 98481 86145.