HIV screening a must in Kelantan

Star: KOTA BARU: Beginning this Sunday, all couples intending to get married in Kelantan must undergo HIV screening which, Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat says, will save the family institution from being wrecked by AIDS.
“The move will also save innocent lives. It is very good, and Kelantan has no problem enforcing it together with other states,” he told reporters after launching the programme here yesterday.
In his speech earlier, Nik Aziz said 5,639 people tested positive for HIV in Kelantan from 1986 to 2004, mostly drug addicts. Some were infected through sex.
“It worries us when 64 housewives in Kelantan were found to be HIV positive last year,” he said.
He told reporters later that the mandatory HIV screening would not rid some people of perceptions that the state had failed to overcome the AIDS problem.
“The problem occurs anywhere and what happens here is because we are located next to Thailand,” he said.
Nik Aziz said it was impossible for the state government to stop its citizens from visiting other countries and be exposed to the disease.
It was important for society to abide by the command of God to stay away from committing sinful acts; and AIDS was actually a calamity brought upon those who had disobeyed, he said.
However, he was confident that one day, a cure for AIDS would be discovered.