The fate of the much-awaited HIV/AIDS Bill to ensure the rights of the HIV/AIDS patients to treatment still hangs in balance even after six years, with the draft bill being passed on from one department to another department for approval.
As uncertainty continues, the Health Ministry has admitted its inability to indicate any deadline for presenting the bill to Parliament.
The draft of the HIV/AIDS Bill 2006, prepared in consultation with key stakeholders at national and regional level, was submitted to NACO on June 30, 2006 by the Lawyers Collective. The response to the evolving HIV epidemic necessitated some contextual changes from the initial proposal. Accordingly, the draft of the Bill was recast and referred to Ministry of Law and Justice in September 2011 and again in December, 2011 for vetting, sources said.
“As advised by Ministry of Law & Justice, a note along with the draft of the Bill has been prepared which was circulated in March, 2012 to various Ministries for their comments. Their comments are awaited. After receipt of the comments, other procedural steps would be required to be taken before introduction of the bill in the Parliament,” a senior official disclosed on the present status of the bill.
The seeds for making such bill dates even a decade back now. An International Policy Makers Conference on HIV/AIDS jointly organized by NACO, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) was held in May, 2002 in New Delhi where all the countries pledged to “strengthen legislation and regulatory systems” to fight the HIV AIDS epidemic.
As a follow up to the conference, a working group of experts on policy, legal, gender, ethics and technical matters was set up to advise on various HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment issues. NACO and ICMR were also part of the group. The group and the then Law Minister, requested Lawyers Collective’s HIV/AIDS Unit (LCHAU) to undertake the task of preparing a draft law on the subject. The draft of the HIV/AIDS Bill 2006 prepared in consultation with key stakeholders at national and regional level was submitted to NACO in June 2006.
Recently the issue came up before the Parliamentary Panel which expressed its displeasure on the inordinate delay. “The reasons given by the Department are not acceptable and frivolous and clearly indicate the manner in which it continue to sideline this crucial law that is aimed at not only protecting the rights of people living with HIV and marginalized populations but also to protect public health. The cases of discrimination in healthcare, education and within their families have not gone down and in fact continue to endanger the lives of millions of HIV+, while the Department delays action,” the panel observed.