Should HIV testing be mandatory before marriage? Yes

[Guest guest]

SUNDAY DEBATE: Should HIV testing be mandatory before marriage? Yes

Dayanand Narvekar, Health Minister, Goa

Mandatory testing of couples planning to tie the knot is the only

way we can stall the menace of HIV from spreading in India. Every

day, we get new cases of women who test HIV-positive just months

after their wedding, thanks to an HIV-positive husband who passes on

the disease to the hapless wife.

Nearly 40% of HIV-positive people in India are women. What is their

fault? Even today, arranged marriage is most common in the country.

A woman is seldom asked about her opinion. It's only after marriage,

when she is infected and the damage is done that she finds out about

her husband's illness.

The predominance of arranged marriages means that most wives and

husbands come together as virtual strangers. As such, there is no

communication between them and hence, the woman can never know if

her husband is infected.

So, mandatory testing of couples for HIV will be the only way to

stop such rising incidences. Therefore, we decided to make a HIV

test mandatory for registration of marriages.

We are amending the Goa Public Health Act for this reason. While the

state cabinet has already shown its green signal, we will put the

amendment before the state legislative assembly in July. Goa has a

Common Civil Code.

So, all marriages have to be registered irrespective of caste and

religion. It will be easy to implement the mandatory testing plan.

All couples will now be allowed to marry once they have the HIV-

negative certificate in hand.

The compulsory test rule is on the lines of a similar clause in the

Goa Public Health Act in the 1900s, whereby small pox vaccination

was compulsory for couples before they married. If the amendment

comes through, Goa would be the first state in the country to have

mandatory HIV test before marriage.

In 1986, Goa had amended the Public Health Act, allowing health

authorities to forcibly test anyone suspected of Aids. After this

amendment, a certain Dominic D Souza was detained and quarantined

for the first time in Goa. The Goa bench of Bombay High Court

released him but upheld the legislation.

The order clearly states that the couples cannot register their

marriage unless they produce a certificate issued by the Goa Medical

College or the directorate of health services or such other

authority.

The certificate has to clear that their blood samples have been

investigated or tested at laboratories, centres, etc notified for

the purpose.

This way, we are certain, we can fight this deadly menace called

Aids.

As told to Kounteya Sinha

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