Hamilton and GebrePUBLIC DEFENDER, Howard Hamilton, has warned employers against discriminating against persons believed to be living with the HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, noting that his office will bring its full weight against persons or organisations engaged in the practice.
"I have requested that a constitutional motion be prepared on behalf of HIV patients to protect them against discrimination. Having HIV is not the end of life as people with the virus have been known to carry on normal lives -- we must never lose sight of that," he said.
And in regards to the case in St. Ann where a teacher has accused his former school of discrimination on the grounds that he was pushed out of his job because school officials believed he has HIV, Mr. Hamilton said, "I would love for him to get in touch with my office so we can do an investigation of his claims. If what he is alleging is true then this is indeed very serious and something we would definitely have to take a look at."
The Ministry of Health is also concerned about the discrimination of persons purported to be infected with HIV, noting that patients tend to go "underground" for fear of being singled out. This officials have blamed on what they say has been a significant increase in the number of HIV cases across the island.
"The Ministry of Health's policy is very clear," explained Dr. Yitades Gebre, Director of the National AIDS programme in the Ministry of Health. "There should be no pre-HIV testing of employees which would be grounds for discrimination," he said. And even after the hiring process, a person cannot be terminated for later catching the virus." Dr. Gebre said the Ministry is concerned about the manner in which HIV patients are treated, noting they were often subjected to all kinds of abuses.
"People are reluctant to come forward because of how they are treated," he said. "If we are not more supportive of people with HIV then we will never be able to stop the flow of the virus in society. Because of the way we treat victims, many of them pretend to be normal and end up passing on infections unto
others."
The Ministry of Health official said that there is a law that protects the privacy of persons who have been tested for HIV and said that it is a clear breach if that information is passed on to other parties.
"An employer cannot call a lab to check on the test result of an employee," he said. "It is a breach of medical confidentiality -- the law is very clear on that. No information regarding any person should be given to anyone -- under no circumstances should this happen. Legal action can be taken against employers who are found in breach."
Anthony Irons, a senior consultant in the Ministry of Labour, said that unless a person is unable to function properly on the job, then having HIV should not be viewed as a deterrent. He added that only an independent physician can make the determination that an employee can no longer function on the job. And on the matter of whether an employee should be able to get information from a lab regarding the validity of a test, Mr. Irons noted that there was something "unethical" about such a practice. "There is a privacy issue which is involve here," he said. "We have to be very careful how we go about doing these kinds of things."
-- Garwin Davis
