Singapore - Well more than half of adult patients at a Singapore hospital are rejecting routine screening for the AIDS- causing HIV virus, citing a lack of anonymity or believing they are too old, a published report said Friday. Fifty-eight per cent of the 2,890 male patients and 75 per cent of the 2,217 female patients hospitalized between December 17 and January 31 at Changi General Hospital (CGH) turned down the HIV test when it was offered.
Lack of anonymity was cited as the main reason, The Straits Times said. Others believe they are too old to subject to the virus, though the sharp drop in those rejecting the test started at age 40.
CGH is the first public hospital in the city-state to offer the test to all patients. Hospitals are required to inform the Singapore Ministry of Health of positive tests.
Early detection means timely treatment and longer, improved quality of life, a CGH spokesman said.
The ministry found that 356 new cases of HIV were reported in the first 10 months of last year, compared to 357 in all of 2006.
"I believe, with time and education, people will no longer opt out" of testing, Lionel Lee, executive director of Action for AIDS (AFA), was quoted as saying.
Confirming that privacy is a major factor, he noted that the number tested at the AFA clinic rose from 6,046 in 2006 to 6,903 last year.
