The legislature yesterday revised the HIV Prevention Law (後天免疫缺乏症候群防治條例) to strengthen protection of the rights and privacy of HIV carriers.
Under the revision, foreigners who are found to be HIV positive -- previously deported immediately -- will be given a chance to debate their cases.
"The passage of the law has brought our country to a higher standard of human rights," said KMT legislator Chiang Yi-wen (江綺雯), initiator of the revision bill.
Currently, health authorities can demand HIV testing on foreigners who have entered the country or have resided in the country for over three months. Authorities can also ask foreigners to present an HIV test result issued within the last three months.
When determined to be HIV positive, foreigners can be deported.
Chiang said although deportation is not a compulsory measure, authorities concerned have made it a rule to deport any foreign HIV carriers without exception, including foreigners married to Taiwanese.
Chiang said yesterday's revision is intended to give foreigners deported on the grounds of being HIV positive a chance to debate their cases on humanitarian grounds, though any appeal of the deportation must be made from abroad.
"They may have families to take care of [in Taiwan] or need to stay with their families," Chiang said.
In another revision to safeguard the rights of foreign spouses, foreigners who are determined to have contracted HIV from their Taiwanese partners will be "treated as local HIV carriers," meaning they will not be deported and will enjoy the same medical care local patients recei.
"In the past, the examination wasn't very careful, and no one would try to check if the virus was contracted in Taiwan or not," Chiang said.
Meanwhile, to better protect the privacy of patients, the revised law stipulates that health authorities should be "careful about their attitude and method" in notifying HIV carriers that they can receive free medical treatment at designated medical institutions.
Chiang said there have been a number of cases in which the blood test reports of HIV carriers were leaked even before the person carrying the virus had been notified of the test result.
"This caused the carriers to lose their jobs, and even the break up of their families," Chiang said, adding that the problems stemmed from people's general ignorance of the disease.
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