By SHUBHAJIT Chakraborty
NEW DELHI, India: HIV screening on job application may get a hammer under a proposed policy that says the disease should not be any bar for employment. Based on the report made by Union Labour Ministry, and with the help of International Labor Organization will soon come out with a bill place by health ministry. The bill will be against any discrimination of employees having such infection.
The Labour Ministry encompasses all the gamut of employers, including public and private sectors, and even self employed. All types of work, formal or informal will be under this bill.
”There is no justification for asking job applicants or workers to disclose HIV-related personal information. Nor should workers be obliged to reveal personal information about fellow workers. Personal data covered by medical confidentiality should be stored only by personnel (who are) bound by rules on medical secrecy and should be maintained apart from other personal data,” the policy says.
It has been reported that most productive age that is age group between 15 to 49 are affected by this infection and therefore, the impact of discrimination cost dearly in the sphere of work. According to a report, the threat of HIV to the Indian working population is evident 90% in the mentioned age group.
According to the National AIDS Control Organization (Naco) approximately 2.31 million people were infected with the disease in 2007. Of this, 88.7 per cent were between 15 and 49 years, 7.5 per cent were aged 50 and above and 3.5 per cent were below 15.adding women account for 39 per cent of the cases.
The policy emphasizes on the stigma and discrimination at workplace. Many people were forbidden from their entitled work because they were proscribed and face seclusion by workers from known or presumed HIV status. The report strongly opposed the termination of employees on the basis of infection and said that an employee could work as long as they were medically fit in appropriate conditions.
The HIV bill, of which the policy will form a large part, will aim to make employers liable for any discrimination against staff with HIV/AIDS and make them responsible for guaranteeing such employees a safe working environment.
