A protest against the Malaysia-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) held by a group representing people living with HIV/Aids (PLHIV) today ended without a hitch just after 10 minutes.

Held at University Malaya Medical Centre entrance in Petaling Jaya, 30 people gathered with banners and placards warning the ill-effects of the trade talks.

Coordinator of the protest Edward Low told the crowd that life-saving medicines needed by HIV patients may become unaffordable if the FTA is signed.

"US FTAs usually force more medicines to be patented and when a medicine is patented, it means there is a monopoly and so no other manufacturers can make that medicine."

"That means that the patent owner can charge as much as he likes because there is no competition," he said.

Before he could finish his statement, UMMC officers told the crowd to disperse saying they had no right to be there.

Another coordinator A Sivarajan then approached the officers saying the crowd will disperse as soon as Low finishes his statement and leaflets were given out.

Lopsided provisions

He explained the effects of the FTA agreement based on the similar terms drawn between the US and Thailand regarding patented medicines.

"The provisions are alarming and lopsided. They would patent vital medicines for HIV/Aids patients for five years making far too costly for them to buy," he said.

He stressed that they don't want the government to sign the FTA with US and ensure that public health is protected.

"Even if they decide to sign it, they must consult Malaysians first," he added.

Sivarajan also said that three memorandums have been sent out to Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Rafidah Aziz but to no avail.

"They should at least let us know the terms of the negotiations. There is no transparency. This has not been raised in Parliament and even our elected representatives don't know much about it," he said.

UMMC public relations officer Yahaya Abdul Hamid told malaysiakini that it was not appropriate for the protest to be held at the hospital.

"Actually, this isn't allowed, so we have a right to tell them to leave. We don't mean to chase them out but we have to think about our patients," he said.

Fourth round

The protest is part of the on-going efforts against the Malaysia-US FTA including a signature campaign in Kedah that won support from 20,000 fishermen and farmers, held yesterday .

Malaysia entered into the fourth round of negotiations on the FTA with the US Trade Representative (USTR) in San Francisco two days ago.

Despite calls by non-governmental organisations and opposition parties for full disclosure, the government has been mum on developments to date, although Miti has released occasional bulletins.

Based on negotiations with other countries, US FTAs usually force more medicines to be patented resulting in the abolition of generic drugs.

With no generic drugs, the access to affordable life-saving Aids drugs will translate to more deaths for PLHIV.

In Malaysia, figures in June 2006 show that there are 73,427 reported cases of HIV infection and 10,959 Aids cases with a total of 8,334 deaths between1986 and June 2006.

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