Re: Are you heading towards mandatory testing?

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum

/message/8667

I am for a more committed line to having people go in for testing. We

propose the use of CONDOMS why? Because we assume people are infected and could

pass on the virus.

I tested positive in December 2005. In retrospect if I had tested my self

earlier I would not have had to go onto ARV's. Today I have not only compromised

my position, but have become a burden to the exchequer since I get my medicine

from Govt outlets.

If I had tested my self earlier I could have despite being positive been free

from having to take ARV's. Today the only cases that come up are like my self

when ones health is severely compromised with getting opportunist diseases like

TB etc (as was in my case).

Lets us be realistic where it matters: the message of safe sex has not

reached down to the masses at the grass root level. NGO's have not addressed

correctly 'high risk behavior' and what precisely does that mean. I have

witnessed men in drug/alcohol induced states on a regular basis performing

unsafe sex in public spaces ( I have plans afoot to address the problem). I am

more than sure that most of these men carry the virus. It is disturbing to think

that they are unaware of the accumulated danger and the fact that it is being

passed on.

If we are taking about using condoms let us acknowledge then that we accept that

the virus is out there. The faster we get to know of it the better we can manage

it. The only way we can do that is to encourage more people to get them selves

tested.

The message that needs to be sent out today is that AIDS is no longer the killer

disease it was 10 years back. The earlier you know your status the easier it is

to manage it.

The condoms message I say is an old one, let's get to getting people tested at

the earliest. It will stop the virus spreading. For those who already have it

the faster they know will help them change their life styles.

Two years down the road I am now healthier than most people my age; it just so

happens that I am HIV+.

Kumar

" Capt(retd) Kumar "

e-mail: <kumar.captretd@...>

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

Re: /message/8667

Isn't earlier detection going to change the life of an HIV+ve individual?.

Nobody likes to be tested even if he has risky behaviour. Even if you ask me. I

would prefer to close the eyes to HIV & wait till it shows up.

But let us face the facts though ugly. Mandatory HIV testing should be done

ideally premaritally. OK a few in the window period may go undetected but

majority of the cases can be located & counselled.

And when everyone is tested there is no need to be scared of being marginalized

in the society. And of course the results will be

confidential.

I feel we should go forward.

Dr.M.Suresh Kumar

State Vice Chairman

HIV AIDS CELL

INDIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

KERALA STATE BRANCH

E-MAIL: <drsurkur@...>

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

Re: /message/8667 I

No medical test can be made compulsory, premarietally, however

beneficial it might be. Is the testing for thalassaemia carrier

status made mandatory in the pre-marietal negotiations? The appears

when a person goes to seek help from a health institution. The

testing can be made regular and included in the battery of maternity

care and ask the father for the same.

But discrimination is an entirely different social issue. Does this

inclusion help in any way to dispel the fear and agony attached with

the disease which again has its origin in the ignorance, illiteracy

and the extant mores of sexual morality that we have been cultivating

through ages?

Testing has got a small role to play in the whole business of

stigmatization. the issue is big and has a broader backdrop where the

ground is prepared.

But one thing can do a great deal. That is absolute non-

discrimination in the health institutions and VIP treatment facility

to the patients which would make them enviable in the eyes of the co-

patients, neighbours and others.

Accepted that is also discrimination, but that is positive discrimination and

will not lead to ostracization and throwing out and outcasting from the socity.

And this is very much doable.

How much does it really cost to offer 200 000 patients class one

category treatment, at par with the so called five star nursing

homes? It can be calculated and can be well borne at state cost?

I'll wait for you opinion.

Dr. Anindya Sen

e-mail: <drsenfhm@...>