|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
KUWAIT CITY, Nov 28 (AFP) - A top doctor here said Sunday that 20 Kuwaitis have died of AIDS and 70 have tested positive for the HIV virus since 1984, but warned that numbers could be much higher as screening did not cover the whole community.
"There are requirements for testing. It only takes place when Kuwaitis apply for government work, blood donations, enter prison or undergo kidney dialysis," Rashed al-Owaish told the English-language daily Arab Times. "The number of tests for Kuwaitis represents only 10 to 15 percent of the total number, which cannot be representative," Owaish said.
Foreign workers are obliged on arrival in Kuwait, as in other Gulf Arab states, to undergo a series of medical tests for a wide range of diseases before they can obtain a residence visa. Owaish said there were no records of expatriates' incidence of AIDS, as those testing HIV positive were immediately deported.
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
