Romania: $60,000 fine for unauthorised AIDS test

A Romanian medical centre was fined $60,000 dollars for performing an AIDS test on a young woman without her consent then sending the results to her employer, Mediafax news agency reported today.

The young woman was then sacked by her employer without reason, the investigation by health authorities in the eastern city of Constanta showed.

"We conducted an investigation and we found out that the young woman never gave her consent for an AIDS test", the director of the health inspectorate, Constantin Dina, told Mediafax.

He added that the test results, which were "uncertain," were given to the woman's employer breaching all rules on confidentiality.

The case has stirred shocked reactions in Romania.

Health Minister Ladislau Ritli called it "regrettable" and insisted that HIV-infected patients must "not be discriminated against in any way".

HIV rights groups welcomed the heavy fine imposed on the medical centre but urged the government to implement a national strategy against discrimination.

"AIDS patients suffer from discrimination because of the lack of information among the population", the Union of HIV rights groups (UNOPA) said.