Blood donors 'should be told if they are HIV positive'

Blood donors 'should be told if they are HIV positive'

JAKARTA (JP): A legislator has called on the government to
drop a policy which forbids the Red Cross to inform blood donors
if they are infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Nafsiah Mboi told a House of Representatives hearing with
Minister of Health Sujudi Tuesday that donors should be told if
they are HIV positive so they could make amends for their past
sexual behavior and prevent their conditions getting worse or
infecting others.

She said the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare's office had ruled that
blood donors had a right to know if they were HIV positive.

Nafsiah was commenting on a blood donor in Jakarta who had
died recently of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). She
said the donor had been informed that he was infected after
donating blood 33 times.

Despite the WHO rule, the Ministry of Health's policy of
anonymity forbids the Red Cross to tell blood donors if they have
tested positive for HIV.

Sujudi defended the policy, saying that without
confidentiality many people would stop donating blood.

"If we let them know, people will consider that blood
donations are HIV screening tests," Sujudi said.

He said the Red Cross did not use blood from HIV positive
donors. But promised that the government would review the
controversial policy.

In Ujungpandang yesterday, the wedding party of one of three
HIV positive women turned sour after her husband's family refused
to welcome the new couple home.

HIV awareness campaigner Zulkifli Amin told The Jakarta Post
that the family refused to accept Syamsuddin and his wife Nuraeni
because they had disgraced the family.

Nuraeni's family had earlier refused to let the couple into
their home.

Nuraeni, Asni and Wiwiek, former prostitutes who are HIV
positive, married over the weekend at the Mattorodeceng
rehabilitation center.

The weddings have sparked controversy, with the Council of
Ulemas local chairman Sanusi Baco saying that they should not
marry because it would be disastrous if they had children. The
three couples have vowed to remain childless. (39/31)