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HC orders strict action on people offering HIV cure ...TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked the Maharashtra government to crack down on people offering cure for HIV/AIDS.
Hearing a PIL filed by a Mumbai-based NGO on Wednesday, a division bench of Justices Bilal Nazki and A P Deshpande directed the government to frame policy guidelines within six months to initiate action against such persons.
The PIL was filed by Maharashtra Network for Positive People opposing advertisements by two Kandivli-based Ayurvedic practitioners claiming they could cure HIV/AIDS. The Union health ministry, National AIDS Control Organisation, Drug Controller of India as well as the state and Mumbai district AIDS control societies were named in the petition.
The PIL claimed that such claims were misleading as they did not have any scientific basis and could endanger the lives of HIV-positive people. The petition also pointed out that according to a government circular of 2000, action could be
initiated against quacks and bogus doctors. Also, such people could be sentenced to three years in jail and slapped a fine of Rs 5,000. Repeat offenders could be fined Rs 200 per day till the time they closed their practice, said the petitioners.
The court would next hear the matter after six months.
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