Goa to make pre-marriage HIV tests voluntary

PANAJI: In a departure from its earlier stand making it compulsory for a couple to take an HIV test before entering wedlock, Goa Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane has said the tests would now be voluntary.

"We are planning to enact a law wherein it will be voluntary for the couple to go for the HIV/AIDS tests before marriage", he said at an international seminar on 'Planning nd Designing of Healthcare facilities' on Friday evening.

HIV/AIDS has become a major tourism concern for the state, he said adding, "Hippies put Goa on the world tourism map... HIV/AIDS is linked to the tourism."

The state government had earlier planned to enact a legislation making it mandatory to get an HIV/AIDS test before marriage leading to controversy with NGOs and local church raising human right concerns.

"Such testing should not be made compulsory...It should be purely voluntary", the Chief Minister said at the conference also attended by Union Minister for Health Ambumani Ramadoss and National Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice A S Anand.

Rane said the state boasts of the best heathcare facilities in the country. "The state has adopted holistic approach in the healthcare," he said.

"We will be introducing tele-medicine facility in the rural areas which will connect the rural centres to the apex hospital providing facilities to the needy", Rane said.