Bill means little to patients who continue to suffer due to unavailability of crucial medicines
A bill which has been pending for the past three years was finally passed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (Prevention) and Control) Bill, 2014, was passed by the Rajya Sabha last month.
While activists were demanding amendment of a detrimental clause for making medical treatment available to the patients, Union Health Ministry did not budge. The bill was passed in its original form. Health Minister JP Nadda, however, in a verbal statement said that all those affected will get free treatment.
Meanwhile, the passing of the bill means little to patients who continue to suffer due to unavailability of crucial anti-retroviral therapy (ART) medicines, which are required to keep infection under check.
Hospitals are running out of adult doses of plain Abacavir 300 mg and Efavirenz 600 mg tablets. A letter was written by activists to Nadda and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) regarding the non-availability of such medicines.
Forty-year-old Shiv Kumar, a resident of Meerut, was harrowed as he was asked to purchase medicines from a private chemist by the ART centre officials at state-run Lok Nayak Hospital in New Delhi. Kumar travel from Meerut to Delhi once a month to collect the dosage. However, because of frequent stock-outs, he had to visit thrice in a month. “I barely earn Rs 6000 a month, and I cannot afford to come to Delhi again and again,” said Kumar.
Another 45-year-old lady seeking treatment at Anti-retroviral Therapy centre in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had been given a paediatric dose due to shortage of adult tablets earlier this week.
The government is shirking it’s responsibility of providing complete treatment to all patients affected by HIV,”said Paul Lhungdim, President, Delhi Network of Positive People.
Statistics
21 lakh estimated persons living with HIV in India
12.20 lakh patients registered with government
10 lakh patients on treatment
68,000 AIDS-related deaths annually
15, 500 patients on second-line drugs
125 patients on third-line drugs
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