Neelu Vyas, Meerut: Hours after CNN-IBN exposed how doctors at the Meerut medical college refused admission to a pregnant woman because she was HIV+, authorities swung into action.

Both doctors were suspended after they claiming they didn’t have the proper gear.

However this incident puts the spotlight on a larger question. Are health centres in India's smaller towns and villages equipped to deal with HIV patients?

The discrimination against HIV+ students at a school in Kottayam, brought to light the society's fear for the disease. Many health centres in India's small towns and villages don't have the equipment to treat HIV patients.

Patients are actually scared to go for check-ups in small towns. "We are scared of being treated in small towns. People want to go out to get themselves treated," says an AIDS patient Intezaar Ali.

According to NACO and WHO guidelines, every hospital is required to have a basic precautionary kit for doctors to use when treating HIV positive patients.

"The kit consists of gauge, mask, gowns and shoes - all disposable ones. NACO has issued guidelines in all states and so if there’s a case of such an HIV+ woman delivering, then the docs should not be exposed to the infection," says Joint Director of NACO, Damodar Bacchani.

There are over one million HIV patients in India and a study done in 2006 says as many as 25 per cent of them have been refused medical treatment at one time the other.