The Hindu Business Line : Govt upbeat on disbursing AIDS drug

THERE was much fanfare when the Government announced a campaign to provide free AIDS drugs to HIV-positive people in December last. But the ensuing silence in the interim-budget — in terms of sops for the manufacturers of anti-AIDS drugs and diagnostic equipment and budgetary allocation to sustain the Rs 200 crore project — has begun to worry organisations working with people affected by HIV/AIDS.

With the project slated to take off in a month, representatives working with support organisations in this segment fear that it could be delayed. "There is no mention till date on how the first phase of the project, estimated to have a project cost of Rs 200 crore, would be supported," they point out.

Allaying these concerns, Ms Meenakshi Datta Ghosh, Project Director with the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO), told Business Line that the project would take-off this April, as announced by the Union Health Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, on the eve of World Aids Day (2003).

"More clarity would emerge, once the pilot project takes off. NACO has held meetings with public and private sector clinicians and the implementation guidelines have been circulated. The nitty-gritty in terms of putting in place the funding, procurement, screening, monitoring, adherence and referrals is being worked out," she said.

Further, she points out, "The full implications of fiscal incentives given earlier to pharma companies will be assessed only now." The forthcoming elections would not upset the applecart, she added. "With there being complete political consensus on the issue and leadership shown by the present Government, we are completely on track to providing anti-retroviral (anti-AIDS) drugs in the six high prevalence states," she said.

Global fund agreement: Meanwhile, the $100 million-odd allocation (approximately Rs 500 crore) grant from the Global Fund for AIDS/Tuberculosis and Malaria is set to flow into India, with the Union Finance Ministry having whetted the final project agreement. "We expect to sign the agreement by this month," the NACO chief, Ms Datta said. "The financial grant was cleared by the global fund in January 2003, but the draft agreement came to us only in May. We raised certain concerns, which have been addressed by the fund and now we will sign it shortly," she said. She was responding to reported statements that the Indian government had delayed in picking up the financial grant. The grant is for the single intervention to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child. It would also cover procurement of anti-AIDS drugs, she said.

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