Bahrain’s Cabinet has approved a parliamentary proposed bill that obliges the government to offer free medical and psychological care to people who are HIV positive.

It also aims to prevent the disease from spreading within the community by raising awareness on different methods of infection, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

The law, originally proposed by five MPs led by Dr Somaya Al Jowder, will be referred to the National Assembly for review in the coming days, said Minister of State for Information Affairs and Official Government Spokeswoman Sameera Rajab during a Press conference yesterday following the Cabinet's weekly session.

Dr Al Jowder, who is also former Health Ministry infectious diseases department head, earlier said the bill will also be applied to prisoners with HIV, who should be dealt with normally, but as a precaution and to ensure that other inmates are safe, they will be assembled separately, but not in isolation as outcasts.

Under the bill, those who discover they are infected with the virus should immediately report to the ministry, but they can do it in anonymity.

Anyone who violates the law could be sentenced up to six months in jail or fined between BD500 and BD1,000, or both.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet also reformed the National Committee for the Prevention of Aids.

The committee will specialise in setting up the general strategy and programmes for the prevention of the disease and arrange guarantees of secrecy of medical tests and results. – TradeArabia News Service