PATNA: Will Sohila Kunawar , the HIV positive person that Patna Medical College Hospital is harassing, finally receive treatment and respect? Patna high court on Tuesday rebuked the PMCH superintendent and ordered the PMCH to reimburse the expenses incurred by the widow.

NEWSNET has been following the story. We reported how the Superintendent ignored the past court directive (see here) and was summoned to appear personally on June 30.

Hearing the writ petition of the woman, who was denied the required surgery at the PMCH, Justice Jyoti Saran rebuked the hospital superintendent and asked, “Do you want to go to jail?” The court also sought the superintendent’s reply till July 7 as to why the PMCH ( a government facility) took money from the patient despite the court’s directive for her treatment at state expense and as to what steps the hospital had taken for her treatment.

On May 28, the court of Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh had asked the PMCH superintendent not to subject the petitioner to any harassment and the state to bear the expenses of her treatment. Justice Singh had also observed that it was the duty of a hospital to give medical assistance to every citizen without any discrimination and if a doctor refused to treat a person living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA), his licence should be liable for cancellation. “The doctors are bound by their oath,” the court had observed.

Petitioner’s counsel Vikash Kumar Pankaj of the Human Rights Law network had argued that she needed immediate treatment/surgery as she had serious complications in her uterus and she was unable to sit. He also stated that the petitioner was referred by Chhapra sadar hospital to PMCH due to her deteriorating health but the PMCH refused to perform surgery.

  HIV, HUMAN RIGHTS, Human Rights Law Network, Patna High Court