A.I.D.S. not wanted in Saudi

Press, 3 February 1986, Page 36

A.I.D.S. not wanted in Saudi

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney

New Zealanders and Australians wanting to work in Saudi Arabia for more than three months must provide medical proof they do not have A.I.D.S.

The Royal Saudi Embassy in Canberra, which deals with both Australia and New Zealand, said that the regulation, which is two months old, applied only to those people wanting to work in the kingdom, and not to businessmen.

A spokesman for the embassy said there was no open tourism to Saudi Arabia, and all visitors required sponsors from within the country before they were issued a visa. The A.I.D.S. regulation

is so new that the New Zealand High Commission did not know of its existence recently. A spokesman for the commission said he knew of no such requirement by the Saudis or any other country represented in Canberra.

The Saudi embassy spokesman said the directive for an A.I.D.S. clearance came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh. “People going to work in Saudi Arabia for three months or more must provide a clearance regarding A.I.D.S. before they will get a visa,” he said.

“The clearance must be on a hospital letterhead rather than from a clinic, saying the person does not have A.1.D.5.”

He said the Ministry

had not provided any reason for the requirement and it had not indicated whether the new rule applies to other countries or regions.

The number of New Zealanders and Australians working in the kingdom was not large, he said.

“They are mainly in the medical and agricultural areas, they generally go for about a year, and are attracted by the high wages.”

“In the medical field they are generally doctors and nurses, and in the agricultural fields they are mainly technicians.” In Australia, the A.I.D.S. crisis has prompted insurance companies to ask life policy’ applicants whether they could have the disease, after A.I.D.S.-

related life insurance claims have doubled in the past six months and appear likely to increase further.

Several companies have introduced AJ.D.S.-related questions into their policies, with the State Government Insurance Office in New South Wales taking the toughest stand.

The office has introduced detailed questions similar to the Red Cross Blood Bank questionnaire, which is designed to help eliminate the disease from blood transfusions and products. Other companies, including the A.M.P. Society, M.L.C . and Colonial Mutual, reportedly have followed suite, or are preparing to do so. They are asking whether policy applicants have

ever been refused as a blood donor, have had blood transfusions, or blood tests, backed by reasons.

Spokesmen for the insurance companies justified the move on the basis of sound underwriting policy. They said that if companies departed from the principle of trying to keep individual premium rates in line with individual risks, all policyholders would suffer.

The Anti-discrimination Board in Sydney says that in spite of United States figures on tfcte risk of contracting A.1.D.5., the risk in Australia was still not unacceptable. Only 10 per cent of people whose blood tests showed A.I.D.S. antibodies actually contracted the disease.