The Delhi Government has been ordered by the Delhi High Court to give free food and medical care to HIV-positive people who reside in the nation’s capital and are below the poverty level yet cannot pay it.
The Delhi administration was also told to maintain strict adherence to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention & Control) Act 2017 and the Rules made thereunder by a division bench led by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.
The court issued the instruction while deciding a public interest lawsuit brought in 2011 by a number of people seeking accommodation and other amenities for their well-being, including hot cooked meals, and who were also dealing with multiple infirmities and HIV/AIDS.
The PIL had also asked for guidance on how the Center could quickly decide on all necessary national and state-level policies and programs for food security, permanent housing, and shelter for all such patients.
The National AIDS Control Program has been operating in the nation’s capital since 1998 with the technical and financial assistance of the National AIDS Control Organization, according to the Delhi Government’s statement, which was noted by the court.
According to a most recent affidavit submitted by the Delhi Government on December 19, 2022, numerous rehabilitation programs and procedures are being implemented to help patients who are HIV positive.
The Delhi Government’s “Travel concession scheme for PLHIVS/CLHIVs for People/Children infected with HIV visiting the ART centers in Delhi for undertaking visits to the ART centers” program has 120 beneficiaries enrolled, and 429 applications are now being processed, the court added.
Additionally, the GNCTD has done everything within its power to guarantee that people living with HIV/AIDS who lack the means to pay for treatment can get it, the court noted.