Selangor To Make Pre-Nuptial HIV Test Compulsory For Muslims

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Muslim couples intending to marry in Selangor will have to undergo pre-nuptial HIV tests from August.
Chairman of the Religious Affairs, Youth and People Friendly Committee Datuk Abdul Rahman Palil said Thursday the ruling would also apply to non-Muslims who intended to marry Muslims in Selangor and Muslim couples who married overseas and wished to register their marriage in the state.
The cost of the HIV test would be borne fully by the couples and the results kept confidential, he told reporters after opening a meeting of state assistant registrars of Muslim marriages here.
Abdul Rahman said the test was important to protect the couples, especially the women, who had the right to know the health status of their future spouse.
According to official statistics, there were 8,726 cases of HIV in Selangor from 1988 to 2004, out of which 726 developed AIDS and 508 died of the disease.
The HIV cases were predominantly male, comprising 94 per cent, and within the 20-39 age bracket.
Abdul Rahman said a committee would be set up by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department to determine the procedure for conducting the test and the testing centres.
He said couples would have to produce documentary proof of the test signed by a doctor of the testing centre when filling in the wedding registration form.
Abdul Rahman said that even if an individual was found to be HIV positive, the couple would have the right to decide whether to proceed with the marriage or otherwise.
He said information on the ruling would be publicised in the mass media and in sermons in mosques in the state.