In the midst of immense pressure from a large number of health interest groups in the country to reinstate several important provisions deleted by the Law Ministry in the HIV/AIDS Bill, the central government may once again review the Bill before tabling it in Parliament for its final nod, it is learnt.

According to sources, the secretaries of the concerned ministries, the Union ministries of law and health, will once again meet to thrash out the issue of reinstating several important provisions which were truncated by the Law Ministry. Though these ministries had held several rounds of meetings in the past to solve this issue in view of public criticism against removal of several important provisions, the Law Ministry did not pay heed to the demands of these groups as it refused to include certain provisions.

Sources said that the government is under tremendous pressure from a large number of NGOs working in the health sector to reinstate several important provisions which were truncated by the Law Ministry. Even though the law ministry had incorporated several provisions to pacify these agitated groups, they are again up in arms against Law Ministry as they feel that the deleted provisions are essential to protect the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS in the country.

The law ministry has so far revised the Bill for three times since it was drafted and finalized by the health ministry in 2006, after consultations with HIV positive groups, women and children groups, communities at risk of HIV, etc. In 2007, the draft was sent to the Law Ministry. In October 2008, the law ministry retuned a severely truncated version of the Bill which drew widespread protests from interested groups. In February 2009, the law ministry presented a second version of the Bill.

However, that was also disappointing with several important provisions, such as those which provide relief during healthcare emergency situations for people living with HIV and AIDS and other provisions related to the specific vulnerability of women and children towards HIV, being truncated by the ministry. On 5 October this year, the law ministry came out with the third and latest version of the HIV/AIDS Bill. But, the NGOs are again highly irritated as Several important provisions remain deleted in the latest version of the Bill.

Though the officials from the health and law ministries met in the past to discuss the deleted provisions, several essential provisions were missing from the latest draft. While the law ministry, during these meetings, agreed to reinstate several of the deleted provisions, it has come to our knowledge from reliable sources that despite a handful of provisions, majority of them still remain truncated. This is extremely disheartening for the people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, who are eagerly awaiting the tabling and passing of this Bill in its entirety, NGOs regretted.