Ensure Hiv-positive man gets proper treatment: HC to Centre

A 26-YEAR-OLD man suffering from AIDS, whose services were terminated by a private hospital due to the disease, will now receive adequate medical treatment thanks to an order by the Delhi High Court.

The bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra directed the Centre to ensure he was provided with proper medical aid and asked the state legal services authority to consider the possibility of a job for him. It issued notices to authorities, returnable by August 9.

The petitioner’s counsel, Ashok Agarwal, submitted a plea saying the man had been working as a lab assistant technician in a government institute. He suffered a few needle prick injuries but the hospital did not provide Post Exposure Prophylaxix (PEP) medication to prevent AIDS.

On January 6, 2016, he underwent a blood test, which was positive for HIV. A second opinion also confirmed the diagnosis. When he reported for work two days later, the institute terminated him from the job citing his disease.

Subsequent representations to authorities met with no result. He then underwent another test for AIDS at AIIMS, which reconfirmed the status.

He then approached the Delhi Network of Positive People, which sent a representation to the institute to no avail. The man then filed a petition in the Delhi High Court, which was dismissed by a single judge in November 2016. He finally filed an appeal before a division bench, saying the court had failed to protect the fundamental right to life.

The ministry of health and family welfare, department of social welfare, National AIDS Control Organisation, Delhi AIDS Control Society, Government of NCT, the contractor and the institute were made respondents in the appeal.

The man said the court’s earlier decision failed to consider that he could still perform his duties at the hospital despite suffering from the disease. The hospital’s failure to provide precautionary measures contravened legal principles, the plea said.

The bench, however, refused to elaborate on the plea to revoke termination at the present stage.