Jaintia Hills has been placed as high burden area
SHILLONG: Meghalaya is yet to draft rules for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017. The discussion regarding the drafting of the Act is still on.
The Union Health Ministry has already implemented the Act in the country in 2018.
For Meghalaya, the drafting of the rules of the Act comes at a crucial time given the steady rise of HIV cases in the state which rings an alarm bell as a Meghalaya AIDS Control Society (MACS) official stated that 3 persons per day were found to be HIV positive.
The Jaintia Hills has been placed as high burden area in HIV prevalence.
Speaking to a section of the press, a MACS official said that as for rules of the Act, discussions and drafting are going with the support of Health department and Law department.
The state level committee on model state rules for HIV & AIDS Act, 2017 had a meeting to discuss on the criteria of ombudsman, criteria of complaint officer(s), setting up of District Grievance Redressal Cell on HIV and the timeline for framing, finalisation and legislation of state draft rules and others.
A proposal was made by the state level committee on having one ombudsman and complaint officers in every government or private offices.
It may be mentioned that the Act has made it mandatory for the state government to appoint an ombudsman to inquire into complaints related to the violation of the Act.
The Act speaks about the appointment of one or more ombudsmen by the state government.
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (Prevention and Control) Act, 2017 provides for the prevention and control of the spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and for the protection of human rights of persons affected by the virus and syndrome and for matters connected with the Act.
