Psychosocial Issues Affecting Surgical Care of HIVAIDS Patients in University College Hospital Ibadan, Nigeria, West Africa

Abstract

The paper discloses that patients with HIVAIDS receive sub-optimal surgical care in the University College Hospital Ibadan, Nigeria. Reasons adduced are, in the majority, of a psychosocial hue and these are explained under subheadings of the rigid mindset of the surgical care-givers themselves, the stigma attached to both infected patient and non-infected relation also, the fraudulent ‘AIDS for gain’ population and lastly the socio-cultural practices
that do not augur well for good surgical health-care delivery. The paper concludes that without a mental paradigm shift, adequate and speedy surgical care will continue to elude HIVAIDS patients in Ibadan, Nigeria.