From: rastern@sol.racsa.co.cr
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 08:05:10 +0600 (GMT)
Subject: COSTA RICAN AIDS VICTIMS...

COSTA RICAN AIDS VICTIMS SEEK SUPREME COURT HELP

By  Richard Stern

              William Garcia, 28 years old, lies in a hospítal bed in San
José Costa Rica,  ill with AIDS, wondering what it would take to get his
government to provide the medications that would save his life.

              Unlike other  AIDS patients here, William  has chosen to go
public with his story and to file a Supreme Court Appeal to try to get the
Court to order the  government to provide the medications he needs.  The
appeal was filed on August 28th,  but, in many cases the Supreme Court does
not even hear cases for up to six months after they are filed and William
knows he may not be around for the result.

            A group of AIDS activists here are trying to draw attention to
the issue so that the Court will treat the case as an emergency and   make
its decision soon enough to help William and several hundred other Costa
Ricans who are now urgently in need of retroviral medications.

           William  is a graduate student in Psychology at the University of
Costa Rica where he received a scholarship to study.  Willy comes from  a
working class family of nine children.  He was an  outstanding student and
the government  paid for his studies. But now it does not want to pay to
save his life.

         William  also worked part time in a small hotel near the
University, paying 30 percent of his salary  into the government social
system each month as is required by law.  

         But the retroviral "cocktail" that Willy needs  costs about $800 a
month here, far beyond the means of  almost all Costa Ricans. Here the per
capital income is about $250 monthly. However, the pharmaceutical companies
are offering wholesale prices if the government would buy the medications,
dropping the price by about 50 percent.

         A few activists here have been working  for the last year to try to
get the government to provide the new medications. They have also pressured
the pharmaceutical companies to make prices even  more affordable.  The
activists say that only about 300 people with AIDS currently require require
medications.

      The government´s own Ombudsmen Agency, the "Defensoria de los
Habitantes,"  has held several meetings with  representatives of ONG´s. Its
Director, Sandra Piszk, has made promises to the groups, but these promises
were never kept.

      "Its very frustrating. Most AIDS patients in Costa Rica are gay men,
so attention to the epidemic has never been a priority here," says Guillermo
Murillo, Patient Health Coordinator of the gay/lesbian Association Triangulo
Rosa. "Discrimination in society, and even in the hospitals continues," he
added.
The government could afford to provide medications, given the  small number
of patients, and the discounts which the drug companies are offering."

     Murillo and other activists are seeking a meeting with the President of
the  Supreme Court to press for a rapid resolution of case.

     Triangulo Rosa  is seeking donations of funds or of unused medications
that would be used  for William Garcia and for  other patients who are
urgently in need of treatment.

Interested persons can obtain more information  from Triangulo Rosa at:

Apartado 1619-4050 
Alajuela, Costa Rica
Tel: 506-234-2411 (English)
         506-223-1370 (Spanish)
Fax: 506-223-3964
e-mail:  atrirosa@sol.racsa.co.cr
                rastern@sol.racsa.co.cr