India's Anti-Gay Law Is History. Next Challenge: Treat LGBTQ Patients With Respect
Two years ago, Shivam Sharma rushed to a Mumbai hospital at 2:30 a.m. He'd had sex earlier that night with a man who was HIV positive. They'd used protection, but Sharma just wanted to be sure he was safe.
So he went straight to the emergency room and asked a junior doctor for a preventative dose of antiretroviral medicines, or PEP — post-exposure prophylaxis.
Hospital staff "were absolutely clueless," Sharma, 28, recalls. No one had ever asked for a PEP before, staff told him.
"They pulled out a massive manual on how to deal with sexually-transmitted infections and insisted I take something like 25 different tests," he says. They phoned a senior doctor at 3 a.m.
Sharma felt frustrated. He had to fight for a basic prescription.
It was just like the first time he got tested for
