ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar on Thursday seemed reluctant to pass the HIV/Aids safety and control bill from the National Assembly standing committee fearing a backlash from the religious groups.

According to an estimate, there are 90,000 to 120,000 people afflicted with HIV/Aids across the country but only 11,000 of them are registered with the government departments. Because of the unavailability of authentic data, the government is unable to devise a strategy to control the disease or provide treatment to the patients.

The “HIV/Aids (safety and control) Bill 2013” was tabled by MNA Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho of the PPP.

According to the bill, it would be the responsibility of the state to ensure the transfusion of safe and screened blood in the country. People would have to get their blood tested before marriage to stop the transfer of the disease from one person to another and to the new generation. Moreover, if a person such as a barber, medical practitioner or a quack transferred the HIV virus to any citizen, they would be imprisoned for 10 years. But there is an ambiguity as the bill only says that “anyone who transfers HIV without informing the other person about his/her status would have to face the imprisonment.” A person who comes from abroad carrying the HIV virus and transfers the disease to their spouses can also be sent to jail.

Saira Afzal Tarar says country already facing many issues and cannot afford protests

Ms Tarar suggested that the bill should be clubbed with other bills about blood transfusion-related diseases, but Dr Azra said blood transfusion was not the only way through which HIV spread.

“We have discussed the bill so many times. I am not a legal expert so if there are some ambiguities in the bill, it will be removed when the bill is sent to the ministry of law. We should pass it now because it is a very sensitive issue,” she said.

Though Secretary Health Ayub Sheikh said the new draft bill would be prepared in a week after removing the ambiguities, Ms Tarar said standing committees took years to discuss a bill, so there was no need to hurry.

“We are already facing so many issues. After the passage of the bill, protests can be started. So we should take religious segments on board before passing the bill,” she said.

“It is the government which has to face the local situation. Bureaucrats, who participate in international conferences, pledge the implementation of new laws but they don’t realise that some laws cannot be implemented,” she said.

Dr Nisar Ahmed Jatt of the PML-N supported the minister and said because of the concerns of religious segments the government had been facing so many difficulties while administering the polio vaccine.

“A number of polio workers have been killed, so religious groups should be taken on board on the HIV bill,” he suggested.

Committee chairman Khalid Hussain Magsi referred the bill back to the ministry to make it more comprehensive and result oriented.

Additional draftsman ministry of law Kashif Rehman told Dawn that though the bill would be sent to the ministry of law after discussion in the standing committee, he had observed that there were some procedural flaws in the draft. “However, all the flaws would be removed when the bill is sent to the ministry of law,” he said.

Another official of the health ministry told Dawn that the ministry was reluctant to pass the bill because religious segments always made things controversial.

“During the tenure of the PPP, a bill against domestic violence was going to be passed but religious groups made it an issue. Now they can again say that the bill will legalise sex workers or it can create differences between husbands and wives. Moreover, they can also say that there is no provision in Islam to have HIV test before marriage,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2015

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