In the judgement on a PIL, the division bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice JB Pardiwala said, "Identity of patients who come for treatment of HIV/AIDS should not be disclosed, so that other patients will also come forward for taking treatment."
In a shocking incident at Jamnagar's Guru Gobindsingh Government Hospital in June 2009, a nurse put a sticker saying 'HIV seropositive' on the forehead of a 25-year-old pregnant woman and paraded her in the hospital in the presence of her mother-in-law and baby girl.
Harshad Pabari, a Jamnagar resident, filed the PIL pointing out this incident and saying that disclosure of identity in this way would deter other HIV patients from coming forward and seeking treatment.
He demanded that state government should keep identity of HIV/AIDS patients confidential, and action should be taken against the hospital staff if the identity is revealed.
Observing that "unfair discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients by doctors including the nursing staff must be eliminated completely," the bench noted that "fear of stigma and discrimination, more particularly in a country like India where almost 30 per cent of the population is illiterate, is a driving force behind the spread of HIV/AIDS".
"The social and economic repercussions of being identified as infected can be devastating and can include violence, rejection by family and community members, loss of housing and loss of employment, to name only a few," HC said.
