HC reprieve for PLHIV
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 29, 2014 -
The directive given by the High Court of Manipur to the State administration for providing clinical investigation free of cost to people living with HIV (PLHIV)in all ART centres was indeed a very significant development towards HIV care and treatment in the State where many of the PLHIV are living below poverty line and face lot of hardship in trying to get the required clinical investigation done for availing ART facilities.
Acting on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Community Network for Empowerment of Manipur (CoNE), a double bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice LK Mohapatra and Justice N Kotiswar Singh issued the directive to Principal Secretary in charge of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Manipur for doing the needful within three months.
This directive of the High Court for providing clinical investigation free of cost in all ART centres in Manipur must have surely come as a great relief to many of the PLHIV in the State who could not afford to undergo necessary medical investigations for initiation to ART medication or force to discontinue the medication due to lack of financial support as the main reason.
As per the guidelines of National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), there are certain mandatory medical investigations which need to be carried out by PLHIV before initiation into ART medication as well as for monitoring the treatment outcome of the patients who are already under ART drugs, and clinical investigation is one such mandatory investigation.
However, unlike many other States in India where these investigations are provided free of cost, it is still charged in Manipur and PHLIV have to shell out anywhere between Rs 800 to Rs 900 for undergoing these mandatory medical investigations in Government hospitals or around Rs 2500 in private laboratory. Moreover, thwse medical tests are to be done after every three months.
So, it is a huge financial burden for many of the PLHIV.
The urgency for ensuring free clinical investigations to people living with HIV in Manipur has also stemmed from the fact that there are 43882 HIV positive patients in the State as on September 2013 and the number of PLHIV registered in all ART centres in the State is 19629 at the end of August 2012.
However, the number of ART initiated PLHIV is just 11673 as of August 2012, which is less than 40 percent of the total PLHIV registered at ART centres.
So, in addition to lessening the financial burden, the directive of the High Court for providing clinical investigation free of cost may also help in increasing accessibility to ART for many PLHIV who are yet to be initiated to ART due to lack of financial support.
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