A.I.D.S. dispute forces need for new clinic

Press, 5 March 1988, Page 6

A.I.D.S. dispute forces need for new clinic

A long-running disagreement with the Canterbury Hospital Board about Approaches jto A;I.D.S. testing has prompted the A.LD.S. Foundation to seek new premises away from Christchurch Hospital.

. The foundation’s national director, Mr War- , ren Lindberg, said -the foundation in Christchurch had! been unable ! to reach agreement vyith j the Hospital Board on sevI eral issues. ! ; ■ The foundation has | been ’ using bdard premises near the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic. Mr Lindberg said the foundation did not disagree with the board’s view that people at risk; of having human immunodeficiency virus (H.I.VA antibodies were also at risk of having a sexually

I ■ I transmitted disease. However, it disagreed with the board’s policy of routinely testing people for S.T.D.s ! when (they presented! themselves for A.LD.S. an-! tibody testing. ! "What we say is that we ■ must respond to people’s primary concerns first and then we may take them further,’’! said Mr Lindberg. "But it is not appropriate to test people, routinely for things they are not expecting to be tested i for unless they fully consider t'he ! implica- : tions of that.” The foundation also had a real concern for anonymity, he said. People who ! approached the board’s S.T.D. clinic for A.LD.S. testing were promised confidentiality, not anonymity. The foundation guaranteed anonymity by using

code names, said Mr Lindberg.

The foundation was also unhappy about the possibility of having the new name, suggested for it by he board, "blazened" across the foundation’s door when it was trying to preserve people's anonymity, he said. The board had suggested the name, A.LD.S. Information Centre.

Mr Lindberg said the board had refused to allow general practitioners selected by the foundation to do H.I.V. testing at the foundation’s hospital rooms.

The foundation has not replied to a letter sent last year by the board asking it to share facilities, equipment and resources with the hospital’s S.T.D. clinic.

Mr Lindberg said the foundation would try to

raise money privately to establish an independent clinic in Christchurch. It would also discussjfunding with the Government. The essential difference between the, foundation and the board Was that while the board acknowledged the importance of counselling it bad not agreed that the ! foundation’s approach tb testing was one it could!support, he said. j The board was perfectly entitled to; do that, he said. i

The board’s ! medical superintendtent-in-chief, Dr Ross Fairgray, declined to comment in the news media hbout the dispute. ! •

“There is no! way we will discuss an alleged or apparent difference between the board and the A.LD.S Foundation in the news media!” he said.