The discovery of the body of 45-year-old Vasco resident, Ajay, at the bus stop near Goa Medical College and Hospital on August 21, 2008 has emphasized the discrimination HIV positive persons face in Goa.

Agassaim police, who shifted the body to the GMC morgue said that Ajay, who had made the bus stop his home since the second week of August, was probably abandoned by his relatives.

Ajay’s is not an isolated case. “Once family members know of a relative’s HIV status they abandon them. Very often relatives don’t even claim the body after death,” said GMC dean Dr V N Jindal.