Detained PLWHAs to Sue the Airport Authorities

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Harassed HIV victims to sue govt TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ WEDNESDAY,

NOVEMBER 05, 2003 04:12:49 PM ]

PUNE: Condemning the ill-treatment and public humiliation meted out

by the Sahar International Airport authorities to six Indian HIV

positive passengers on November 1, non-government organisations from

all across the country have unanimously decided to file a petition in

the Mumbai High Court on Thursday. Udaan Plus Trust vice president

Vijay Nair, who is one among the six persons under quarantine at the

Yellow Fever Hospital, told TNN on Wednesday that the petition would

be filed immediately after their release on November 6.

" We have asked the Lawyer's Collective to draft the petitions which

will be filed against the Union health ministry, civil aviation

ministry, Maharashtra State Aids Control Society and the Mumbai

District Aids Control Society for their lackadaisical coordination

which put us at the receiving end for no fault of ours, " Nair said.

The six passengers were returning from the 11th International People

Living With HIV/Aids conference in Uganda. They were humiliated in

public and eventually kept under quarantine at the YFH in Mumbai by

the SIA authorities for not possessing yellow fever vaccination

certificates.

Pune-based Ruby Hall Clinic project AIDS director Dr Sanjay Pujari

told TNN that it was wrong on the part of the airport authorities to

seek to know the HIV positive status of the passengers. " I see no

reason why the six HIV positive persons are under quarantine for

yellow fever. If CD-4 count of these HIV positive patients goes below

200 then the live yellow fever vaccine could lead to some other

health complications, " Pujari said, adding the SIA authorities have

violated rules laid down by National Aids Control Organisation

The six detainees are from the following NGO's — Pathway from Pune,

Udaan Plus Trust from Mumbai, Care Foundation Manipur, Trivandrum

district HIV/Aids Network Organisation, Global Network of sex-workers

living with HIV/Aids from Kolkata and an individual HIV/Aids

awareness volunteer from Mumbai.

Pune based social-worker Celina D'costa told TNN that they had

referred the matter to the International Human Rights Commission and

the National Human Rights Commission in Delhi. " We have asked the

state health department to provide us with previous records of HIV+ve

patients who were quarantined for yellow fever, " D'costa said. Nair

said that they had made the following demands in the petition to the

union and state government:

• Initiate judicial inquiry over the humiliation incident

• Suspension of the concerned SIA authorities

• Declare a social audit for the public to know the HIV/Aids work

carried by the health ministry

• Maintain complete transparency with respect to HIV/Aids funds

received from World Bank and Global funds and draft clear guidelines

for PLWHAs and quarantine procedures in the next 30 days.

Medical certificates issued by the respective state governments had

clearly stated the HIV positive status of the six individuals and

said vaccination of yellow fever may be waived off as some of them

have low immunity. " It is dangerous for us to take the vaccination

as our immunity is low, it can lower our CD-4 count. However, the

officers refused to listen, " Nair alleged.

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