HC directs State Govt to provide clinical investigation free of cost to all PLHIV
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, July 27 2014 : In a significant development, a double bench of High Court of Manipur comprising Chief Justice LK Mohapatra and Justice N Kotiswar Singh has directed the Principal Secretary in charge of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Manipur to provide clinical investigations free of cost to people living with HIV (PLHIV) in all ART centres in Manipur within three months.

The High Court directive has come while disposing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Community Network for Empowerment of Manipur (CoNE) .

Hailing the High Court directive, RK Nalinikanta, president of CoNE, has pointed out, "This is a huge relieve for PLHIV in Manipur as many of them are living below poverty line and they face lot of hardship in trying to get the required clinical investigation done for availing ART facilities as well as for monitoring the progress of the treatment" .

He also expressed hope that his court directive will increase the accessibility to ART for many PLHIV who are yet to be initiated to ART due to lack of financial support.

It may be noted here that as per the treatment guidelines of National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), there are some mandatory medical investigations which need to be done for ART initiation as well as for routine investigation to monitor the treatment outcome of the patients.

Clinical investigation is one such mandatory investigation for PLHIV who are accessing ART to monitor the treatment progress.

However, unlike many other States in India where these investigations are provided free of cost, it is still charged in Manipur.

All these medical investigation cost between Rs 800 to Rs 900 in Government hospitals and around Rs 2500 in private laboratory, and these tests are to be done after every three months.

As a result, many of the PLHIV could not afford these investigations.

If these investigations are not done in time and submit the report to the ART centre, then ARV drugs won't be provided to the patients.

This resulted to drop out of many patients from ART centres, thus increasing the number of patients lost to follow up treatment.

Considering the seriousness of the issue, ConE sought legal support after the concerned State authorities failed to give positive response to its initiative for availing free clinical investigation to PLHIV so as to improve the accessibility and quality of ARV treatment in Manipur like in other States of India.

According to report, the total number of HIV positive patients in Manipur as on September 2013 is 43882 and the number of PLHIV registered in all ART centres in Manipur 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.

Meanwhile, legal counsel of the petitioner Kh Tarunkumar has informed that in case the directive of the High Court is not implemented within the given time line, they will go to the court and appeal for the same on behalf of all PLHIV in Manipur.

He also observed that it is the State obligation to avail these medical investigations free of cost and ensure justice to PLHIV.

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