AIDS screening of recruits not worth the effort. DGAFMS

[Guest guest]

Top doc says AIDS screening of recruits not worth the effort

Manu Pubby

Posted online: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 0000 hrs

NEW DELHI, MAY 1 : Indicating for the first time that the Armed

Forces may go back on their stand to conduct compulsory screening of

all applicants for HIV/AIDS, the Director General of Armed Forces

Medical Services (DGAFMS) has said that there is `little to gain'

from mass screening.

Surgeon Vice Admiral Yogendra Singh, who took over as DGAFMS on

Tuesday, said that while the proposal for mandatory screening has

been referred to a legal panel, it would be an " expensive

proposition " and serve little purpose.

" Recruits who want to join come in large numbers and the pick up rate

(of candidates infected with the disease) is very low. In 10,000

young recruits we may find one odd case. It is not worth the effort

to mobilise such huge resources, " the DGAFMS told The Indian Express.

Besides the legal issue attached to conducting tests for the disease,

defence medical officers believe that given the low incidence of

HIV/AIDS in the age bracket of 18-20—the age by which most recruits

sign up for the armed forces—it is not feasible to deploy huge

manpower resources for the tests.

" According to statistics available with us, most service personnel

contract HIV/AIDS at a later stage in life. The focus needs to be on

preventing their exposure to the disease after joining the service, "

a senior medical officer said.

This is a reversal from the stance of the previous DGAFMS. Surgeon

Vice Admiral V K Singh had vigorously promoted a plan for compulsory

screening for all entrants to the Armed Forces. In an interview to

this paper in last October, he had said that " the National AIDS

Control Organisation (NACO) and Chief of Staff Committee have given

the green signal. A letter from the government is expected soon " .

Vice Admiral Singh, who retired from service on April 30, had said

that 96 nodal centers were identified across the country to conduct

screening for nearly 60,000 candidates every year.

While officials claim that HIV positive cases are on the decline in

the Armed Forces, over 5,000 cases have been identified in all three

services since 1992. The bulk of these (over 3,500) are from the

Army, while the Navy and the Air Force have minimal numbers of HIV

positive personnel. No deaths from the disease have been reported

from any of the services in the past two years.

http://www.indianexpress.com/story/29834.html