NEW DELHI, India, Dec 16 (Reuters) - A 26-year-old man died of renal failure after doctors in a government-run hospital in the Indian capital refused to treat him because he was HIV positive, a newspaper report said on Saturday. The daily "Hindustan Times" newspaper said the unnamed man was admitted with a fever at the Lok Nayak hospital in New Delhi, but that tests conducted revealed he was infected with the virus. "His case sheet says that he was refused treatment because he was HIV positive," a doctor at the hospital, who declined to be named, told the newspaper. "He was referred for dialysis. But doctors there turned him away because he was suspected to be HIV positive," the doctor said. "He died within two hours." Social activists say widespread stigma and discrimination forces tens of thousands of HIV/AIDS sufferers underground where they shy away from social life and hide their infection. According to the United Nations, 5.7 million Indians are living with HIV/AIDS -- the world's largest caseload.
