There was no legal provision to prevent those doctors putting up advertisements; the minister said adding that there was also no legal provision to test people for HIV or AIDS by force.

Responding to a question raised by UNP Anuradhapura District MP P Harrison in Parliament today, the Deputy Minister said: “There are some situations of HIV infected persons who do not seek treatment due to various bogus propaganda by some ayurvedic and homeopathy doctors who claim that they can cure HIV. There is no legal provision to stop these kinds of activities.”

He said that there were 772 AIDS patients at government hospitals and the government spent Rs 400,000 for each of them.

The Minister said that there was no mechanism to check patients by using force to ascertain whether they were HIV infected or not. But all those who donate blood are screened for HIV. The government plans to introduce HIV checking for each and every maternal clinic of hospitals in the country.

There were 2009 cases of HIV had so far been reported in Sri Lanka and of them 350 had died, he added. (Special Reporter/HC)