SHC moved for allocation of funds for AIDS program.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued notices on Thursday to the advocate-general, the secretaries of the health and planning and development departments and others on a petition seeking the allocation of appropriate funds for the treatment of HIV/AIDs patients as well as for an awareness campaign.

The petition was filed by the Human Rights Commission of South Asia through its Pakistan’s Correspondent Syed Muhammad Iqbal Kazmi, submitted in the petition that 79,560 persons had been diagnosed to be living with HIV/AIDS, which was 52 percent of the entire HIV/AIDs patients in the country. He said that the government was duty-bound to provide medical facilities to patients without any discrimination and to make efforts to prevent the disease.

He said that the World Bank was funding the government under the AIDs control program but the funding was ceased in 2009 due to corruption. He noted that at present no budget had been allocated by the government for AIDS control program, which, he said, was against the spirit of articles 25, 9, 35, 37 and 38 of the Constitution.

The court was prayed to direct the federal and provincial health ministries as well as the finance department to take measures for providing funds for the AIDS control program and to initiate an awareness campaign to prevent people from catching the disease.

A division bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the advocate general, the secretaries of the health and planning and development departments and others and called their comments on August 10.