Maharashtra set for mandatory HIV testing

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Maharashtra set for mandatory HIV testing

Tejas Mehta

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 (Mumbai)

Maharashtra may become the first state in the country to make HIV

test mandatory before marriage.

A committee headed by the State Health Minister Vimal Mundada has

already given an in principal nod to the proposal.

The decision comes after the Maharashtra Law Graduate Association

filed a PIL in the High Court asking for such a test.

The High Court had directed the matter to the state government, which

decided to form a committee to look in to the matter.

The solution, simplistic at best, was opposed once before when a

public interest litigation was turned down by the Bombay High Court

in April 2006.

It was a decision based on guidelines laid down by the National AIDS

Control Organisation, guidelines, which state that no one should be

forced to undergo a mandatory HIV test.

The guidelines also state that mandatory HIV test should not be a

precondition for employment or providing healthcare and in case of

marriage, a test can be carried out only if a partner insists on it.

But the debate rages on. Should the state protect one group's right

to privacy or another group's right to life?

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