The country's first ever formal legislation to be made on HIV/AIDS that would seek to address the three dubious issues of anti-discrimination of HIV/AIDS patients, wherein the patients are neglected treatment by a hospital or clinic, the issue of informed consent, wherein the patient and his relatives have the right to information regarding the status of his treatment and the issue of confidentiality, wherein the patient has the right to dispose information regarding his HIV positive status, is said to be almost 80 per cent complete and would be submitted to the Centre by the end of April, it is learnt.
Sources from the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit, an NGO in Mumbai, which was entrusted the responsibility of preparing the legislation by the National Aids Control Organization (NACO), Delhi have revealed that the Draft, which is being prepared in consultation with members from private and public sector; is nearing completion and will be submitted to the Centre within two months.
Vivek Divan, Project Coordinator of the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit told Pharmabiz that the assignment is the first such initiative being developed for both the private and the public sector and with active private and government sector co-operation, the new law would be applied aggressively on a national level for all states to follow", said Divan.
Some of the issues that have been bought out upfront and that have been incorporated into the Draft include granting rights for employment to patients of HIV/AIDS; proper utilization and chanelising of resources at the government hospitals and healthcare setup; and making medical treatment more available and affordable to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).
Other recommendations that have been made in the Draft include the need to set up an Institute of grievance redressal at the national level that would consist of 25 members to look into the various issues and grievances of the public, need to imbibe the concept of health ombudsman at the state level, have a national committee to represent all member bodies (NACO to become a statutory body) and the necessity to incorporate pharma companies in making available the ARV treatment for PLWHA.
According to Divan, of the remaining 20 per cent project that is left includes the debatable issues of introducing compulsory sex education in schools and bringing about a change in the law of sodemy, which as yet is being discussed and would be finalized very soon.
"The issues of making sex education compulsory in schools and that of bringing a change in the sodemy law, including those for homosexuals and other community health workers, is being debated and is yet to be accepted by all members from the state", confirms Divan. "Even sensitizing the doctors, paramedics, lawyers and others concerned into actively helping the PLWHA is another important issue that we are trying to look into, but which will take some more time to materialize", added Divan.
But amidst these small issues, Divan is hopeful that the final word on the draft would be finalized very soon and would be forwarded to the Health Ministry, latest by end of April. How soon the ministry converts it into a Draft will be an other issue, a decision on which even the LCHA seems to be unsure of.