Court pulls up AIDS control agency for faulty HIV kits
New Delhi, Aug 27 : The Delhi High Court Wednesday came down heavily on the National
AIDS Control Organization (NACO) for suppressing a World Bank report on faulty HIV kits
being used in India.
The court issued a notice to NACO asking it to explain by Oct 22 as to why it
suppressed the World Bank findings that poor quality HIV kits were being used in
India.
Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Murlidhar asked NACO why it had made
false claims that the US Centre for Disease Control had verified that the HIV kits used
during the second national AIDS control project (NACP-II) in Indian hospitals and blood
banks were of standard quality.
The court was hearing a public interest petition filed by Kunal Shah, seeking a Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into the use of defective HIV kits.
Shah said he was a member of the World Bank team that investigated complaints of
spurious HIV kits in India in 2007.
He has sought equitable justice for all victims who were infected with the AIDS virus
as a result of flawed HIV kits manufactured by Monozyme India Ltd.
--IANS
