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AIDS legislation revamped

"Of course we should not ostracize HIV-positive individuals or deny them treatment, but we have to balance protection of their rights and disease prevention."

-- Ting Shou-chung, KMT legislator

The legislature's Sanitation, Environment and Social Welfare Committee passed various amendments yesterday to legislation previously known as the AIDS Control Act (後天免疫缺乏症候群防治條例).

Despite concerns from a legislator who worried that the changes might be too far-reaching and thus undercut disease prevention, the committee managed to reach consensus on a slew of changes that bolster patients' rights.

The legislation will now be known as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention and Patients' Rights Protection Act (人類免疫缺乏病毒傳染防治及感染者人權保障條例).

"This change reflects our increasing understanding of the disease since the AIDS Control Act came into effect and makes the protection of patient's rights a central goal," said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英), one of the legislators sponsoring the amendment.

Until now, foreign spouses who became infected with HIV could be deported from Taiwan regardless of circumstances, whereupon they could apply for re-entry.

Under one of the amendments passed yesterday, such individuals would be allowed to stay in the country as long as they can demonstrate they were infected by their Taiwanese spouse or in the course of receiving medical treatment in Taiwan.

Another group that stands to benefit are people who have Taiwanese citizenship at birth but never obtained residency in the country. Under the previous law, HIV could be grounds for denying such an individual residency.

The amended law would allow these individuals to obtain residency provided they have a close relative -- such as a parent, child, sibling, grandparent and grandchild -- living in Taiwan.

Privacy rights and access to treatment for all HIV-positive individuals will be safeguarded in the amendments, while language on existing statutes has been strengthened.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), however, questioned whether the protection of patients' rights might affect disease prevention efforts.

"Of course we should not ostracize HIV-positive individuals or deny them treatment, but we have to balance protection of their rights and disease prevention," said Ting, who supported a different version of the amendments.
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