Despite Supreme Court breather, HIV patients will have to wait for treatment

[Guest guest]

Despite Supreme Court breather, HIV patients will have to wait for treatment

Published: Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011,

By Priyanka Golikeri | Place: Mumbai

Despite the Supreme Court's directive last month to make second- line HIV/AIDS

treatment available free of cost to all those who need it, patients in

non-metros will have to wait till March.

The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), under the Union Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare, which has to implement the order, will need time

before making second line universally available in all the anti-retroviral

therapy (ART) centres in India.

Second-line treatment is needed by patients when resistance is developed towards

first-line medication. It currently costs about Rs4,000-8,000 per month in the

private market, making it unaffordable to several patients.

The government started giving second-line treatment free from 2008 in 10 ART

centres, but laid out a set of criteria, because of which just 1,516 patients

have availed of it till now.

Though exact numbers of the patients requiring second-line treatment is

unavailable, experts say about 3-4% of HIV patients develop resistance to first

line every year, thereby needing second line. India has about 2.27 million

HIV-positive patients, as per data by the government, and various international

bodies.

With the court order, NACO will start making second line universally available

first in centres in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. March onwards it

willroll it out in ART centres in Imphal, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Bangalore,

Hyderabad, Chandigarh.

Gradually, second line would also be rolled out in centres in Pune, Aurangabad,

Nagpur, Hubli, Vijayawada, which were till now providing only first-line

treatment.

" The process of procuring the medicines, which is done through international

competitive bidding, will take six to eight months. Also, time is needed to

increase manpower to execute the programme. Thus, it would be rolled out in a

phased manner, " said a government official.

This phased roll-out would give NACO time to study and get an accurate number of

people needing second line. " In March, NACO will prepare a status report and

present it to the Honorable Court, along with a plan for phase II, where the

treatment would be made available at all centres, " said the official.

The court order comes as a major relief to HIV/AIDS patients in India who needed

second line.

The government considered only those patients eligible for second-line

treatment, who were on the government programme for first line for minimum two

years.

" This was unfair, as the government started giving first line free of cost only

from 2004, while AIDS has been in India since the 1980s. Secondly, only those

who were in the below poverty line (BPL) category could get second line. Those

economically higher than what the government considered BPL, could not get it, "

said HIV patient Deepak Leimapokpam, from the Manipur Network of Positive

People.

Eldred Tellis, founder director of Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust, which works

with HIV/AIDS patients, and one of the petitioners in this matter in the SC,

said the Supreme Court order is in the right direction, as now treatment can be

unconditionally available for everyone.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_despite-supreme-court-breather-hiv-patients\

-will-have-to-wait-for-treatment_1493383

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

/message/12418

 

I think Supreme court directive is very clear on providing Universal access to

second line ART at these four sites till march 2011, than analysing the data and

further expansion to other centres of excellence in a phased manner .

 

Hence it would not be prudent to use headlines like " despite Supreme court

breather, HIV patients have to wait for treatment " which is misleading and

against the rationale and spirit of the judgement which has taken into account

right to life of PLHIV as well as sytem constraints

 

The kind of scale up of ART programme in India is unprecedented and acknowleged

worldover and we have time and again assured that second line will be made

available to all those who require it but the system has to be prepared and

geared up for that.

It would not be in the right spirit to sensationalize the issue, rather work

with NACO to expand the access through interaction with  INP, DLN and other

civil society organisations

 

thanks

 

Dr B.B.Rewari

  MD,FRCP, FICP,FIACM,FIMSA

Sr.Physician,Dr RML Hospital &

National Programme Officer (ART)

National AIDS Control Organisation,

6th Floor, Chandralok Building,

36, Janpath, New Delhi-110001

Tel; 011-23731954, 43509999(O)

Mobile ; 91-9811267610

Fax : 011-23731954,23731746

E-MAIL <drbbrewari@...