World AIDS Day: Testing for HIV made mandatory in K-P

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governor made the announcement during a seminar on the World AIDS Day.

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar has announced that HIV/Aids tests have been made mandatory before every surgical operation in all hospitals across the province.

He made the announcement during a seminar on the World AIDS Day on Thursday while addressing a public gathering at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University.

The governor said that hundreds of people had been infected by HIV in K-P but only 217 HIV positive persons were registered by the FATA Aids Control Programme.

“The authorities have not been able to create awareness among the masses and that is why people are not registering themselves,” the governor said.   He said a high-level meeting will be called soon to chalk out a practical plan at eliminating the disease.

K-P Provincial AIDS Control Programme Manager Dr Sher Muhammad Khan said since the disease was not curable, precautionary steps were crucial to keep people from being infected. “We can only help make people aware about the deadly disease and we have been arranging seminars,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2011.