Sourced by the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report
India will begin barring individuals with HIV from entering the country within the next few months, according to a report published on Tuesday by the South China Morning Post. The Hong Kong-based paper quotes India's Health and Family Welfare Minister C.P. Thakur as saying that visitors will have to produce medical records stating that they are not infected with the virus. If they are HIV-positive, they will not be allowed to travel in the country.
Testing is being justified on the grounds that "contacts with foreigners are responsible for the sharp rise in HIV cases" in India. The country is estimated to have at least four million HIV-positive inhabitants, with the main modes of transmission being shared injecting equipment and sex between men and women. HIV was first reported in India in the late 1980s.
The policy does not have to go to Parliament, as the Health Ministry has the authority to pass rules after ministerial consultation.