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Couples planning to marry face compulsory HIV test
Couples planning to get married will have to undergo a compulsory HIV test if the government succeeds in passing the proposal in the state assembly.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 00:44 February 3, 2008
Mumbai: Couples planning to get married will have to undergo a compulsory HIV test if the government succeeds in passing the proposal in the state assembly.
The high-level committee, set up by the state health ministry, has decided to introduce the proposal to make HIV testing compulsory within six months but only after getting the opinion of the public and experts.
If the Bill is passed, Maharashtra may be the first state to pass such a law as similar attempts in Goa and Andhra Pradesh failed.
The committee unanimously decided to introduce the proposal within six months.
Public Health Minister Vimal Mundada hopes the move will create awareness and also control the spread of HIV.
While discussing the problems that such a law would bring up - like the social stigma attached to the test and the human rights of an individual - Mundada said: "We will decide whether couples will need to produce the medical certificate at the time of registration of marriage."
The Bill is a result of public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Jaya Nair, representing the Maharashtra Law Graduate Association, in 2004 to make a pre-marital HIV test mandatory.
The PIL had pointed out that many men and women were cheated by their spouses because they hid the fact they had HIV/Aids.
There were instances of healthy, unsuspecting people getting infected by their partners and later the virus being passed on to their children.
Dr Ishwar Gilada, Consultant in HIV/Aids and Honorary Secretary, People's Health Organisation and Aids Society of India, said: "I am in favour of a pre-marriage complete medical check-up rather than only an HIV test. It should include all possible tests from all blood groups.
"This way, you ensure better medical compatibility between partners and even if a partner tests positive for HIV, he/she can be rejected as medically unfit‚ and won't have to carry the stigma of an HIV/Aids patient."
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