Kohima, June 9 (MExN): A joint meeting was convened today by the Commissioner and Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Menukhol John, who is also the Chairman of Nagaland State AIDS Control Society at the Conference Hall Secretariat, Kohima to discuss the issue of ‘Mandatory Testing’, which was raised by Nagaland NGOs and had appeared in the local newspapers and e-forums. The meeting was attended by Project Director, Nagaland State AIDS Control Society, Project ORCHID, N Naga Dao, Nagaland Drug Users Network, and Network of Nagaland People living with HIV.
Project ORCHID officials in the meeting stated that the issue had emerged from an internal office email circulated to its implementing partners, while seeking suggestions for “referrals for ICTC testing”, informed a press note issued by the Program Manager of Project ORCHID. It clarified that through a mail to all its implementing partners, it had retracted a misleading communication which appeared in an internal communication on May 11 last.
The email read as: “Avahan and NACO have made mandatory that 100% of the HRGs (Core target groups) have to be tested annually’ was a wrongly worded communication that unfortunately conveyed a meaning that was not at all intended. I, on behalf of Project ORCHID, withdraw and retract the same. We apologize to you for any confusion that it has created. Any undue concern and stress it might have caused you and the community concerned is also regretted.”
Reiterating its stand on the issue, officials of Project ORCHID stated that they did not support “mandatory testing” and did not intend to introduce it in any of its project interventions. “We hope that this communication will clarify the issue satisfactorily.”
