HIV-AIDS Bill draft to be discussed afresh

October 22, 2009

One of the major provisions that has been deleted in the latest draft of the

Bill is emergency health services for an HIV patient

Published on 10/22/2009 12:58:09 PM

By Azera Rahman

New Delhi: India's Law and Justice Minister Veerappa Moily said he will discuss

the latest draft of the HIV-AIDS Bill with the Health Ministry which, according

to patients and civil society, has " key provisions " missing.

Raman Chawla of the Lawyers' Collective, who led a six-member team from the

Network of HIV Positive People to meet Moily, said the Minister assured them of

sorting out the differences as soon as possible.

" The Law Ministry proposed the third draft of the HIV-AIDS Bill after deleting

38 key provisions that the Positive People Networks had demanded. Therefore when

we met the Minister we told him that these provisions must be reinstated in the

Bill and then passed by the parliament, " Chawla said.

Talking about the Draft Bill, Daisy of the Chennai Network of Positive

People who was also a part of the delegation that met the minister said that

it's the first draft of the Bill that they want passed by the parliament.

" In 2006, the HIV-AIDS Bill was prepared by the Health Ministry after intensive

discussions with different stakeholders, including people living with HIV, sex

workers and injecting drug users. That is the version of the Bill that we want

to be reinstated and passed by parliament, " said.

This 2006 version of the Bill was sent to Ministry of Law and Justice for

vetting.

" However, a much diluted version of the Bill was sent back by the Law Ministry

in 2007. Protests followed later and then the Law Ministry again sent a draft of

the Bill — almost like the last one, " added.

Pradip Dutta, a member of the Delhi Network of Positive People, said that one of

the major provisions that has been deleted in the third draft of the Bill was

emergency health services for an HIV patient.

" A lot of times HIV patients are denied treatment in hospitals despite being an

emergency. Therefore, we want a health official be appointed, as mentioned by

the Health Ministry, who will give orders within 24 hours if such a situation

arises, " Dutta said.

" Also a lot of times we see that children whose HIV positive parents have died

are denied their right over the family property. Therefore, there should be a

provision by which the property rights of a child of HIV parents are protected, "

he added.

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