Press Releases

November 26, 2003

HIV Positive Travelers Singled Out for Quarantine in Mumbai Scheduled for Release

The six persons living with HIV/AIDS detained at Sahar International Airport, which services Mumbai, India, and placed in quarantine for alleged lack of proof of inoculation against yellow fever are scheduled to be released on Thursday, November 6th at 11:30. The news comes to us from one of the detainees himself, via Mr. Arif Jafar, Director of the Lucknow-based Regional Liaison Office of Naz Foundation International, a health-related organization. Luckily, the detainee in question has been able to contact the outside world with his mobile telephone.

On November 1st, fifteen delegates at the 11th International Conference for People Living with HIV/AIDS, which took place in Kampala, Uganda, were returning home. They had reached Mumbai at 02.00 and were in line for immigration clearance when six of them were taken out the line and asked to produce a Yellow Fever Certificate, a document proving inoculation again yellow fever.

Countries typically request that a person passing their borders show a Yellow Fever Certificate if he or she has just previously been in a country where the disease is endemic, and Uganda is such a country. However, in cases where the vaccine is contraindicated, as with people whose immune systems are compromised, an official statement from a doctor to that effect is acceptable instead.

According to Indian AIDS activists in contact with the detainees, the six individuals taken out of line to present certificates of vaccination told the medical officer of the immigration department they were HIV positive, and then presented the appropriate medical waivers. The medical officer refused to recognize the documents and demanded a large sum of money from each of them in exchange for letting them go. Not having been given the money, the doctor insisted the six be detained in a quarantine hospital 1.5 KM away, and that they pay for transport there.

The detainees were taken by rickshaw to the hospital and locked up without access to proper sanitation, medication, food, or drink, even water. This is the case despite the fact that one of the detainees had already experienced a fainting spell, and some must take HIV drugs on a regular basis. They had packed enough anti-retroviral medication for the duration of their trip to Uganda, planning on returning according to schedule. There is a risk of developing resistance to anti-retroviral medication if one is not strictly adherent to one's drug regimen. When the detainees protested the way they were being handled, the hospital authorities allegedly told them it was only their job to lock them up, not to treat them.

According to AIDS activists from the Network of Maharashtra by People Living with HIV/AIDS (NMP+) who visited the hospital lock-up, the conditions there are deplorable. The location is mosquito-infested, posing a risk of malaria and dengue to the detainees, and before the intervention of the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society, water and food of unknown quality were only provided in exchange for money.

News about the quarantine has now traveled around the globe via E-mail and telephone, eliciting strong responses from the international community of AIDS advocates.

"What has happened is abhorrent. These people were singled out for mistreatment because they are HIV positive. How else can you explain that the other travelers coming from Uganda were not put in quarantine? This incident is yet more evidence of the discriminatory and inhumane attitude of some government officials against people living with HIV/AIDS.", said Mr. Stuart Flavell, International Coordinator of the Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS, one of the international organizations mobilized to seek help for the detainees.

Dr. Alice Welbourn, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) shared her reaction with us: "I was shocked to learn that our Regional Contact for Asia and her colleagues are being treated in this way. I was carrying a similar letter of exemption from yellow fever vaccination, from my own consultant at the University of Oxford in England. I am distressed to learn that their exemption certificates were not respected and that they are being detained on these grounds and in these conditions. ICW is requesting their immediate release."

Issued by:
Jennifer M. Bushee
Communications Coordinator
Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS(GNP+)
P.O. Box 11726
1001 GS Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: +31(0)20.423.4114
Fax: +31(0)20.423.4224
E-mail: news@gnpplus.net
Website: www.gnpplus.net

Fiona Hale
International Network Manager
International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW)
Unit 6, Canonbury Yard
190a New North Road London N1 7BJ,
United Kingdom
Tel: +44(0)207.704.0606
Fax: +44(0)207.704.8070
E-mail: info@icw.org
Website: www.icw.org

Arif Jafar Director,
Regional Liaison Office
Naz Foundation International
9 Gulzar Colony,
New Berry Lane,
Behind Times Of India,
Lucknow 226 001, India
Tel: +91(0)522 2205781/2
Fax: +91(0)522 2205783
Email: lucknow@nfi.net and arif@nfi.net

London Office:
Palingswick House,
241 King Street
London, W6 9LP,
United Kingdom
Phone: +44(0)208563 0191
Fax: +44(0)208741 9841
E-mail: london@nfi.net
Website: www.nfi.net