The domestic and international NGOs like AIDS and Cancer Treatment Advocates from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, Medicine Sans Frontiers and Cancer Patient Aid Association, Mumbai have joined together and demanded that the Indian Parliament change the Patent (Amendment) Bill, which threatens to shut down generic production of new drugs. They warned that unnecessarily tough patent rules will lead to prices skyrocketing and unnecessary deaths, as life-saving medicines become unaffordable.

"The ruling UPA coalition introduced the patent bill last week and is trying to rush it through the Lok Sabha by the end of the week without open debate," Anand Grover of the Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign said adding, "What we are asking for is open public debate on this bill, because this is a life or death issue for millions of people in India and around the world."

The multinational drug industry has been actively fighting against the public health provisions in this new bill. For example, Glaxo SmithKline has been putting pressure on Members of Parliament, and threatening to reduce activity in India if the restrictive bill is not passed.

"This patent issue really makes a difference," said Dr. Y. K. Sapru from the Cancer Patient Aid Association in Mumbai. "I am seeing our patients die because when production of the new drug for leukemia was restricted to only one producer (Exclusive Marketing Right), the price jumped 10 times and suddenly this life-saving drug was no longer available. For those who tell us the Patent Act is good for India, I say it is only if you are healthy. If you are stick, the Patent Act will increase drug costs, and is already costing Indians their lives," Dr Sapru added.

"Decisions made on the Patent amendments in India will affect the whole world," said Tendayi Kureya of the Pan-African Treatment Access Movement, Zimbabwe. "India is the world's major provider of affordable AIDS medicines, 50 per cent of people in developing countries taking antiretrovirals for AIDS rely on Indian production. Around the world we have looked at India's leadership on many issues. It saddens me that today, India may abandon people with AIDS who need affordable drugs to survive," he bemoans.

Treatment activists said that this week the eyes of the world are on Delhi. They explained that India has been an international leader on access to medicines in debates at the World Trade Organization and they urged the government to not capitulate to MNCs. They hope India does not set a bad precedent for other countries who are resisting unfair trade regimes, by passing a Bill that will keep the sick and dying from obtaining the drugs they need.

This weekend in Mumbai, dozens of organizations from India, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand, Nigeria, Nepal, Venezuela, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Costa Rica, Colombia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, USA, France, Australia, UK and Switzerland have gathered for a global south dialogue about the future of affordable and sustainable access to HIV/AIDS treatment and health services generally. One issue critical to that future is India's Patent Bill.

The NGOs who represent and support people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS from five continents, which includes grassroots and international organizations, human rights advocates, lawyers, public health experts, and activist gathered here.

"We know from experience that extending access to HIV/AIDS treatments and preventing the deaths of millions more people living with HIV/AIDS in the global south - including the 5.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS in India-depends on access to a sustainable supply of affordable medicines, which includes the production and distribution of generic antiretroviral medicines. India has played a critical role in this regard, and has a legal and constitutional obligation to protect, respect and guarantee access to the highest attainable standard of health for its own people. It also has a moral duty to all those around the world who have benefited from affordable Indian medicines to continue providing such access, so that people do not prematurely die without them," the representatives said.

If the Patent (Amendment) Bill, tabled on 18th March, in Parliament, is passed without substantial amendments, India will have failed these obligations. People that are alive today because of access to affordable drugs and those that have a hope of getting onto treatment will have been betrayed.

This is despite the UPA government's Common Minimum Programme commitment to ensure access to affordable medicines and use all the flexibilities in TRIPS. Moreover, India's leading role in fighting the unequal trade regime imposed by the WTO will be to no avail if you insist on adopting a patent legislation that is more restrictive than the WTO requires, thus casing harm to millions more in the international world, the NGOs warned.