HIV-Positive Medics: Work Ban To Be Lifted

[Jazzy]

Healthcare workers with HIV are currently banned from taking part in certain invasive procedures - dentists are suspended immediately after diagnosis.

But the Government wants these rules modernised in line with the most recent science.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said there is no risk to patients.

''This change is based on fact. What I'm asking is for the public to wake up to where science is and understand that HIV has moved on from the 1980s," she said.

"People are not infectious because they are infected, they are infectious because they are not being treated.

"Now with effective treatment someone diagnosed with HIV can lead a normal and healthy life with no risk of infecting another.

She added: "It is no longer a death sentence."

The ban is due to be lifted next April and the Department of Health has said clinicians will be strictly monitored and their treatment tested to safeguard patients.

Current regulations mean healthcare workers are tested for HIV and other conditions when they join the profession, and are obliged for further tests if they suspect a patient has been put at risk.

However, they must volunteer for subsequent checks and no routine tests are carried out as part of their career.

Full article

What are your thoughts about the ban being lifted?

 

[DrLeftover]

It's a political bone they're throwing to the Gay Rights crowd.

If a 'medic' has any other potentially fatal communicable disease (Hepatitis C, TB, etc) are they allowed to work?