Doctors demand AIDS tests

REZEKNE - Doctors from Rezekne Hospital in eastern Latvia have recommended that, in order to protect medical staff against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tests should be administered without patients' consent if needed, a doctor in Rezekne told BNS.

At a conference on March 1 the doctors agreed the move was contradictory to government regulations on restriction of the spread of HIV and AIDS.

AIDS experts said the move would also violate human rights.

"It is a gross violation of human rights and doctors can be sued over it," AIDS Prevention Center head Gita Gange told BNS.

Rezekne Hospital head physician Jazeps Korsaks explained that HIV tests without a patient's consent will be done in Rezekne in emergencies, when it is impossible to obtain the patient's consent, as well as on patients from risk groups such as prisoners, drug-addicts or others high-risk groups.

Korsaks explained that in the second HIV case detected among Rezekne hospital's patients this month the HIV carrier and his relatives had been aware that he was HIV positive but had withheld it from doctors.

"Some sixth sense told me this person nevertheless should be tested for HIV and the analyses indeed was positive," said Korsaks.

Korsaks believes the government regulations that require HIV tests be done only upon request by the patient are obsolete and should be changed. He said that the current arrangements place doctors and nurses under threat of infection.

But Gange said the knowledge of which patients are HIV positive still does not diminish the risk of infection and that doctors and nurses should take proper precautions with all patients.

"A doctor must follow all safety procedures and refer to any patient as a potential threat. That's what glasses, gloves and safety procedures are for," she said. Rezekne city and county health protection officer Edgars Zarembo told BNS that HIV tests are currently approved by patients and if possible, will continue to be done in the future. Nevertheless, if a patient refuses to take an HIV test before an operation, the doctor can refuse the surgery, he said.

Current legislation defines that patients can't be forced to take an HIV test and obligatory tests are enforced only on blood and tissue donors. Welfare Ministry spokesman Gunita Berke told BNS that doctors have to obey government regulations which are still in effect.

But the ministry does not rule out serious discussions on amending the regulations, said Berke.