Program to roll out gradually
Patients in the Saskatoon Health Region will start receiving offers of HIV tests from their doctors, but they’ll be able to opt out if they choose.
The voluntary testing and counselling will be offered to “all patients aged 13 to 64 receiving primary or emergency health care who do not know their HIV status, or who are sexually active and have not had an HIV test in the last 12 months,” the Saskatchewan HIV testing policy states.
It also emphasizes the need for testing of pregnant women, people being treated for any sexually transmitted infection, and anyone with tuberculosis or Hepatitis C. The “opt out” policy, recommended by a provincewide HIV leadership team in January, has been adopted by the SHR and is being introduced gradually to doctors in the region, deputy medical health officer Dr. Johnmark Opondo said Monday.
The ongoing effort to increase testing in Saskatchewan aims to find undiagnosed cases of the virus so it can be treated and transmission to others can be avoided, Opondo said.
Betty Ann Adam
The StarPhoenix
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