If you are in Andhra Pradesh and planning to get married then chances are very high that you may have to pass through an HIV test because Andhra Pradesh government is soon going to make HIV test mandatory before marriage. The health minister, K Rosaiah of Andhra Pradesh has propagated this fact. It seems the figures of HIV infected people, which rank Andhra Pradesh as the second state in India after Maharashtra, has spurred Andhra Pradesh government to take such a step.
Interestingly, this very move by the Andhra Pradesh government has given rise to a debate that whether is it right to make HIV test mandatory before marriage or not. Moreover, this very move by the Andhra Pradesh government has given rise to different views in my mind. First, let’s ponder over those ideas that come to mind, favoring mandatory HIV test. When a patient is required to have blood transfusion then it is tested whether it is HIV infected or not, since HIV infected blood may wreck live of a person. So, what is wrong if HIV test is made mandatory before marriage? Don’t you think it is need of the hour, especially when HIV spread is fast galloping in India and round the world as well. And in this series if we come out of Andhra Pradesh even then we find that a big percentage of Indian people are in favor of this mandatory HIV test. Moreover, NDTV survey has also evinced it by getting 73 percent votes favoring HIV test before marriage. Interestingly, some religious groups have also come forward in favor of this test, which gives us another reason to think that HIV test should be made mandatory.
However, when we look at the negative side of this whole concept then confronting views also come flocking. First confronting view, which comes to mind compel to think again and again that how far would this policy be feasible, since we know India is a country imbued with old traditions, where we come across orthodox views as well and it is quite likely that people having such orthodox views may take such policies as a threat to their culture, their tradition and to their religion. Most importantly, most of the Hindu marriages are normally considered complete just by performing ceremonies, which makes registration of marriage non-compulsory.
However, I firmly believe that if we are fully determined to quash the spread of HIV virus and really wish to save our posterity from the malady of HIV/AIDS then we will have to take such strong steps. At the same time, I do think that no doubt, making HIV test mandatory before marriage may come out with good results but at the same time efforts to provide people with the importance of safety during sex, sex education should also not be slackened.
Image credit: Ei-ie
Via: BBC
