A public health crisis of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV may be looming in Dhaka, as untold numbers of young prostitutes are forced to practice unsafe sex in hundreds of residential hotels throughout the city, doctors warn.

Their warning comes after learning about the dreadful experiences of Layla (not her real name), 17, who recently escaped from a residential hotel after 22 days of forced prostitution. The physicians at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) are now running tests to determine if she has contracted the HIV virus.

Doctors fear her risk level is high, since she rarely used condoms. "The girl came in touch with many different people, including foreigners. She might have contracted the HIV virus since she slept with these people, especially the foreigners," Dr Bilkis Begum, a gynaecology consultant at DMCH's One Stop Crisis Centre (OCC), told The Daily Star last Sunday.

Layla's story, narrated on Sunday night from a hospital bed at DMCH, provides a rare glimpse inside the underground sex trade, revealing both the horrendous conditions young prostitutes are made to endure, as well as the public health dangers festering behind closed doors.

A time bomb may be ticking in the dark rooms and hidden hallways of the city's residential hotels, which number between 1,500 and 2,000 in Dhaka City, many of them in Maghbazar. Among them, sources confirm that 320 are fully dedicated to the sex trade. About 1,000 more have dual purposes, serving as legitimate hotels but also at times as brothels. In most cases, sources say, little or no precautions are taken to stop the spread of the STDs.

Trapped inside the Hotel Capetown of Maghbazar, Layla was forced to service 20 to 25 'customers' every 24 hours. "The customers were mostly police, hoodlums, people of other professions and many foreigners [mostly Mongoloids]," she said.

Around 25 girls, most of them young, typically come to the hotel during office hours and work all day as prostitutes, Layla narrated. They leave at the end of the working day, as if they work in an office, she described.

Business was brisk, with some 50 pimps, located only 100 yards from the local police station, 'pulling' customers off the street around the clock.

Layla was hardly able to rest, and was forced to serve all day and all night. "The hoteliers used to provide us [the girls] some kind of medicine for arousal to work a couple of times," she added.

Sources say many girls like Layla are cheated into the sex trade, lured by false promises of jobs, and kept in conditions of captivity. In Layla's case, her stepmother's sister-in-law brought her to the capital from Jhenidah and sold her to Hotel Capetown at Maghbazar in the city on May 1.

Male clients frequenting such hotels have a dangerously lax attitude toward the health risks involved, sources confirm. A self-employed microbus driver at DMCH, who has slept with prostitutes at residential hotels in Maghbazar several times, recently told The Daily Star, "When I go there all I care about is pleasure. I don't give a damn about those diseases."

Layla described that the hotel owner took Tk 250 from each customer, while the girls received Tk 80.

Layla, who was kept under surveillance, was never paid for her work, however. "I heard from the hotel manager that my aunt, who sold me here, comes often and takes the money."

The young girl was lucky to escape, but only after her physical condition took a turn for the worse. "A customer came to my room in the hotel on Sunday at noon, but seeing my genital parts, he refused to have sex," Layla said. "When the manager asked why he refused, he reported my sickness and the manager sent me to get medicine from a nearby shop," she described. "I took the first chance and ran to the DMCH."

Doctors at the DMCH's OCC say Layla's condition has improved in the days since her escape. The Ramna police, meanwhile, have arrested 10 staff of the Hotel Capetown as well as Layla's stepmother. The hotel has also been shut down.

Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Ramna Police Station,0 said Layla's complaint is currently under investigation. "The story is still under investigation. We are verifying the statements she made. We are in favour of prosecution, and after the completion of the whole investigation, we can determine where she is right and where she is wrong," he said.