The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the central and Delhi governments on a petition alleging shortage of drugs to treat HIV/AIDS at certain hospitals in the national capital.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra sought response from the two governments on a petition a non-governmental organisation, which claimed that due to shortage of the medicines, patients afflicted with HIV/AIDS were given dosage for only 15 days as against 30 days.

The petition said that due to shortage of anti-retroviral drugs (ADR) adult patients were being given paediatric dosages of the medicines at the Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) Centres at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Safdarjung Hospital and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital and elsewhere in Delhi.

On March 27, the NGO informed the Additional Project Director of Delhi State Aids Control Authority about the shortage of essential ARV drugs. Despite that, the NGO said, as of April 11, the ART Centre at AIIMS ran out of those drugs. It alleged that the same ARV drugs were available in the open market at prices ranging between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 per pack, which the poor patients cannot afford.