A well known college in India has fired four employees after they tested HIV positive, despite Indian laws that forbid discrimination on the basis of HIV/AIDS.About a month ago, the management of the P S N A college of engineering and technology in Muthanampatty insisted on putting the hostel staff through a general medical check which also included a HIV test. Four of them tested positive. All four fired on January 13th 2009.
S Ramakrishnan, the college's special officer, admitted he had fired the four staffers. "We have sacked them. They are cooking for 2,000 hostel students. We cannot take the risk of having HIV positive cooks working in the college mess," he told The Times of India. When it was pointed out to him that HIV did not spread through food, Ramakrishnan quipped: "I can't fool around with the health of so many students."
A Rajrathinam, an HIV activist in Dindigul, pointed out that "It shows the ignorance of educated people and the stigma that is still attached to the disease," he said.
Well-known lawyer, Anand Grover, who has argued several cases in favor of fired HIV positive persons, said the act of the college was "totally illegal." In several landmark judgments, the Mumbai and Delhi high courts have ruled that a person living with HIV could not be denied opportunity of employment merely on ground of his HIV+ status, he said. Courtesy Times of India
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