Health Ministry suggests lifting restrictions for HIV-infected persons

The Ministry of Health submitted a bill, proposing lifting all the restrictions for HIV-infected persons and banning any form of discrimination against these persons, Info-Prim Neo reports. During public debates within the parliamentary commission on social protection, health and family, Deputy Minister of Health Mihai Magdei said that this bill guarantees certain rights for the HIV-infected persons. The current legislation says that only the persons who present a medical certificate for AIDS can stay on Moldova’s territory for more than three months. The bill provides for the inclusion of a new article titled “Women and HIV/AIDS”. The deputy minister said that this article is necessary as the number of HIV-infected women rose from 24% of the infected persons in 2001 to 51% in 2012. They aim to reduce the women’s vulnerability to HIV by implementing education programs and promoting gender equality. The result of the test for AIDS will no longer be presented to the family doctor. The medical personnel will not be allowed to inform the wife/husband or partner about the fact that the patient is HIV-infected, as the law provides at present. But the article saying that any HIV-infected person is obliged to tell this to the wife/husband or partner will be kept. In Moldova there are over 7,000 persons infected with HIV, more than 2,000 of whom live in the eastern districts of the country.