Caribbean schools and student HIV tests

[YesIAm]

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I noticed that for all US medical schools obviously students need to submit immuno/health screening info after admission. However, for caribbean schools (I noticed this explicitly on MUA's website) it says you must have a neg HIV test for admission. Out of curiousity, does anyone know if a student with a pos HIV test is not allowed to attend medical school on MUA, or the other top caribbean schools as well?
Just curious...

 

[aggiegolf]

I had the same question a few months ago.

The way they explained it to me is that they require these tests because HIV, tuberculosis, and other transmissible diseases could be "catastrophic" to the island's population.

I don't know anything about MUA, but St. Matthew's in Grand Cayman said that a positive result on the HIV test doesn't mean you cannot be admitted. It's more of an immigration issue than an acceptance policy.

 

[vett9d1]

That's very interesting! It makes sense I guess for the island and school populations. I'm not going to lie I like this policy maybe an individual or two will find out they have it before passing it on to others. 👍

 

[aggiegolf]

It's a pretty tough issue, even in the United States. A few international students who entered the community college in my hometown had tuberculosis and/or HIV, and no one knew. Consequently, several students on campus contracted TB, and a few cases of HIV were also reported. A couple of students also got jobs at a fast food restaurant. This was a huge problem for a small city in Texas, so I can't imagine how bad that could be for a caribbean island.

I think a student (as long as they are qualified) has the right to attend medical school whether they are HIV positive or not. But then you have to look at the risks involved when they're working with patients (ie surgery).

I wish they'd hurry up and find a cure for it.

 

[McGillGrad]

Besides the reasons listed, persons with HIV have a limited life span when compared to the average applicant of the same age.

Even if you ignore the risk to patients and the risk to the HIV infected person in a germ-filled hospital environment, why would you give a spot to a person with 10-year career span when someone of similar age could provide 2-3 times the career span? It is an issue that always leaves the HIV+ person in a disadvantaged position.

 

[supernareg]

blah blah blah

 

[aggiegolf]

hmm

 

[supernareg]

yes

 

[howelljolly]

what?

 

[dragonfly99]

McGillgrad,
I disagree with your statement about the hospital being unsafe for an HIV+ doctor. If the person has HIV, not AIDS, he/she isn't really immunocompromised so being around a germ-filled hospital wouldn't be significantly more dangerous for him/her than other medical students or doctors. How long someone is likely to practice, and risk to patients from having an HIV+ physician, are other separate issues. As far as the "risk to patients" thing, we must not forget that there are noninvasive fields like radiology, pathology, psych, etc. where a doc really wouldn't be suturing or drawing blood from patients, etc. Also, the risk of transmitting HIV to someone via some routine medical procedure, if the doctor is on therapy and has a very low or undetectable viral load, would be exceedingly low. I think if we are going to ban HIV+ folks from medical school, then we need to ban folks with any type of immune compromise, or a risk of not living as long as others (history of a cancer that could come back), or who are older than average (i.e. nobody over 35), or anything infectious (hepatitis C), etc. Not sure where we would stop....it's an interesting question though.

 

[PharMed2016]

McGillgrad,
I disagree with your statement about the hospital being unsafe for an HIV+ doctor. If the person has HIV, not AIDS, he/she isn't really immunocompromised so being around a germ-filled hospital wouldn't be significantly more dangerous for him/her than other medical students or doctors. How long someone is likely to practice, and risk to patients from having an HIV+ physician, are other separate issues. As far as the "risk to patients" thing, we must not forget that there are noninvasive fields like radiology, pathology, psych, etc. where a doc really wouldn't be suturing or drawing blood from patients, etc. Also, the risk of transmitting HIV to someone via some routine medical procedure, if the doctor is on therapy and has a very low or undetectable viral load, would be exceedingly low. I think if we are going to ban HIV+ folks from medical school, then we need to ban folks with any type of immune compromise, or a risk of not living as long as others (history of a cancer that could come back), or who are older than average (i.e. nobody over 35), or anything infectious (hepatitis C), etc. Not sure where we would stop....it's an interesting question though.

Agreed, I recently asked a fellow that I work with about HIV (he is in ID, with background in HIV). He explained to me that it actually is somewhat difficult to transmit HIV due to viral load and other factors.

 

[howelljolly]

In any event.

HIV status is apparently an immigration issue in some Carib islands. Thats about it.