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HIV Certificate from NRI Students No Longer Made Mandatory

by Medindia Content Team on Jun 24 2006 2:27 PM

Engineering colleges in Karnataka insist on a HIV certificate from the foreign/NRI students. But now the rule is no longer mandatory. The Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in Karnataka has over 120 engineering colleges in the state.

It has issued strict orders not to ask for HIV certificated from foreign/NRI students during admissions. K Balaveera Reddy, VTU vice-chancellor said that when our own students are not subjected to AIDS test then why one should insist on such norms for NRI/foreign students. The education department has laid down norms for admission to BE/B Arch courses insist that foreign students should produce an attested AIDS-free medical certificate. They should get a letter from the Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society.

When asked about the rule the Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society said that it issued the orders as per the NACO (National AIDS Control Organisation). But VTU said that it will not make the submission of the HIV certificate mandatory. But other medical colleges said that HIV test will continue to be mandatory for foreign students. Dr S Kumar, principal, M S Ramaiah Medical College and Pushpa Keni, student affairs director at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, said that HIV test is mandatory for all students. This is because Karnataka is one of the six states with high prevalence of HIV cases along with Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland. Hence this is one of the ways by which the number of HIV cases among youngsters could be checked.


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