Independence day special call for immediate rollout of second line treatment

[Guest guest]

Dear FORUM,

This is the clarion call for immediate rollout of second line treatment to save

unaccounted and untimely deaths of thousands who are in the hope to fulfill

their unfinished promises to the near and dear ones.

 

˜Give us another chance to live’ is the cry which keeps us to push this agenda

to its logical end. We were once saved but now we are left to fend for

ourselves. With all our resources drained and our inspiration to live longer is

weakened due to unscientific and unaccounted bureaucratic hurdles which is least

in the interest of the infected and affected communities.

Today, we have reached a threshold in terms of being complacent and missing an

opportunity to fight against the epidemic together by the civil society

organisations, positive networks and government bodies.

Our inactions will be the biggest blot in the history of this epidemic when

there is treatment available for HIVAIDS worldwide for more than a decade but

still we are unable to ensure for easy accessibility and affordability at the

hands of MNCs and Generic pharmaceutical companies whose sole agenda is to make

profit at any cost.

 

The Government of India proposed 19-point commitments for people living with

HIVAIDS in India to receive treatment, economic and other support in a matter

pending in the Supreme Court of India between VHAP and Union of India and others

on 5th August 2008.

One of the commitments that were approved by the Supreme Court merely states

that ‘Second line treatment programme will be expanded. We fail to understand

the urgency to provide second line treatment for PLHAs who have failed from

their drug regimen supported by government health facilities.

It could not be an oversight of a good public health policy to put them on

treatment roll out in the first place and when they have developed resistance

you have no clear vision or answers to support the governments delay tactics

that has resulted in unnecessary hardships and fatality to many PLHAs who have

lost trust and hope in the battle against the chronic and manageable disease

like HIVAIDS.

There are testimonies of many people whose ambitions and dreams are very similar

from our own selves.

 

Raju who developed resistance to first line treatment was shattered with no one

to tell him why the drugs that he required for his survival are so much priced

that he can't have them even if it is available. He claims that right to life is

mere rhetoric and fails to understand the significance of his existence as a

human being as his basic rights are challenged in a regime which has lost human

face of governance. There are similar but even depressing and distressing

stories of many PLHAs whose plight is decided or undecided by a few power

brokers who have lost their humanity.

Death can speak the truth for itself and people living with HIVAIDS are at the

door step of death and the saviors of many who witness this happen every day

without having to loose much in the bargain. It was rightly said by a

philosopher, thinker that death is the beginning of a new life.

Let us fight this unscientific and unnecessary bureaucratic delay at the cost of

people's life at the hands of a few.

 

We want our leaders to make one commitment to the democratic and republic of

India to start the course of treatment in the month of August as a symbol of

respect for independent India to offer its citizens. We have been successful in

the fight against imperialism at the cost of many lives and it is history.

Similarly, we have to rise to this occasion to create history by emphasizing on

universal access to HIV treatment for all. This reminds of our architect leader

Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru who in his speech mesmerized the world:

 

" At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to

life and freedom. A moment comes which comes rarely in history, when we step out

from the old to the new, when an age ends and the soul of a nation, long

suppressed finds utterance.

" It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to

India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.

" At the dawn of history, India started on her unending quest, and trackless

centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her successes and her

failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that

quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of

ill fortune and India discovers herself again...

 

" The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer.

It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of

opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe

every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears

and suffering, so long our work will not be over...

 

" To the people of India whose representatives we are, we make appeal to join us

with faith and confidence in this great adventure.

" This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill will or

blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her

children may dwell. "

 

We would like to put straight questions to the concerned authorities in the

Government of India where The Honorable Prime Minister of India is also The

Chairperson of National AIDS Council:

 

What is the rationale for doing a pilot-study of already proven drugs which has

been pre-qualified and FDA approved when people are dying for want of life

saving second-line treatment?

What kind of feasibility model we are confronting that has ignored all standards

of ethical considerations when people have developed resistance and surrendered

in the fight against the disease?

Does the costing factor be the sole criteria to over-shadow socio-economic

ramifications that are beyond an individual affecting family as a unit and

community at large?

Are we celebrating Independence Day to bring life and freedom back in the hearts

and souls of many who are hoping every day to see that day when government will

roll out second line treatment?

 

 

RELEASED BY

ADVOCACY, POLICY AND COMMUNICATION DIVISION

AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION - INDIA CARES

Dr. Mahesh Ganesan

Advocacy Coordinator

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

S-7 Panchsheel Park,

New Delhi. 110 017

e-mail: <mahesh.ganesan@...>