BBC: India plans AIDS screening of foreigners

[Guest guest]

Wednesday, 24 April, 2002, 12:15 GMT 13:15 UK

India plans AIDS screening of foreigners

As many as 23 Indians are infected every minute

India is proposing to bar the entry of foreigners who are HIV-

positive. The Indian health ministry has drawn up a plan to insist

that visitors from abroad present an HIV-free certificate on arrival.

HIV infection came to India from abroad and it still continues. CP

Thakur, Health Minister.

Indian Aids campaigners say as many as 23 people are being infected

with the virus every minute.

According to a National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) report, at

least four million Indians are infected with HIV/AIDS.

But human rights activists say if the plan is implemented, it will be

a violation of human rights.

Preventive measure

India's Health Minister, CP Thakur, said the plan to check all

foreigners would go a long way to curbing the infection rate in the

country.

Medical facilities are meagre for many victims

Dr Thakur told the BBC the proposal had been forwarded to the tourism

and foreign ministries for consultation.

" HIV infection came to India from abroad and it still continues,

mainly through the coastal route, " Dr Thakur said.

But Gunjan Sharma, a member of the leading Indian non-governmental

organisation dealing with HIV/AIDS - Naz Foundation - said the

proposal was unfair. " Is the government going to test all Indians

going abroad? " Ms Sharma asked.

Ms Sharma said the work being done in the field would suffer if the

Indian government approved the plan.

Another activist, Francis Demelo, told the BBC that he had been

attending international conferences on HIV/AIDS for the last three

years but had never come across such a rule. Mr Demelo himself is HIV

positive.

Awareness programmes

But this is not the only proposal on the drawing board.

The government in the western Indian state of Goa is considering a

suggestion that everyone planning to get married has to undergo a

mandatory HIV test.

The UN funds an Aids awareness programme

The health ministry is also going to launch a mass awareness

programme in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur

where HIV/Aids infections are rising rapidly.

Dr Thakur said political activists, businessmen and local people will

meet to work toward setting up HIV testing centres, provide

counselling facilities and conduct awareness programmes.

He said school students and factory workers would be the main targets

of these efforts. According to NACO, the HIV Aids epidemic is India's

most serious public health problem.

Analysts say the spread of AIDS is advanced by low awareness and

literacy levels, combined with large migrations of labour.

They say India needs to make up for lost time, if it wants to avoid

Africa's fate.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1948000/19483

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