PANJIM: Firm on his decision to make HIV test mandatory before registration of marriage, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Wednesday clarified that government will not collect the data on the HIV status but will ensure that the test results are disclosed to the partners only.
Rane had on Monday announced the government’s plan to make HIV test mandatory and directions were issued to the Law Department to prepare the necessary rules for the same. However, the United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS-India) has opposed the move terming it as ‘illegal’. Responding to the same, Rane, in a statement issued, said that the response of the UNAIDS to the state government’s plans has been ‘unfounded and inaccurate.’
“The response of the UNAIDS has been unfounded and inaccurate. The spirit of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (prevention and control) Act, 2017 is to prevent discrimination against the protected persons in the public sphere,” he said. “The act, however, recognises that the right of the protected persons is not inalienable and that in certain situations as given in S.6 and S.9 of the Act an HIV test can be mandated,” the minister added. Rane mentioned that a physician is by law permitted to disclose the HIV positive status of a person to their partner if he is satisfied that the partner is at risk of contracting the disease owing to non-disclosure by the affected person.
“In this spirit, the Goa government wants to ensure that a person is not infected with HIV owing to ignorance or non-disclosure. The government will not collect the data on the HIV status of marriage certificate applicant. The government will only ensure that the partners conduct the tests and disclose the results to each other,” Rane assured. If the law is implemented, Goa would perhaps be, the first State in the country to enact such rule.
