The armed forces plan to conduct tests for HIV at various levels, including new recruits and serving soldiers, a senior officer said on Tuesday.
"The Armed Forces Medical Services has sent a proposal to the Central government to conduct screening tests for HIV to control the disease in the forces," AFMS Director General Vice Admiral V K Singh told reporters at the army's Western Command hospital in Chandimandir.
A proposal to this effect has been cleared by the chiefs of the three services and sent to the government, he said adding, the Centre's approval in this regard is awaited.
He said that the rate of HIV infection among soldiers stood at 0.028 per cent as compared to the civil society's rate of 8.9 per cent.
The armed forces have plans to conduct HIV tests for soldiers before being posted and after deployment to vulnerable areas including north-eastern states.
"The screening tests of soldiers will be conducted every five years," he said.
Pointing that HIV was "number one enemy", he said till 2003 the total number of HIV cases in the forces was 300. By the end of 2006, another 37 new HIV cases were added.
"HIV cases, once detected, are kept in the service," he said adding, "these cases are continously kept under observation."
"No alarm is raised once a case of HIV positive is detected in the force," Singh said adding, "such soldiers are treated in the manner in which other diseases are handled."
Asserting that funds were no restriction in taking measures and controlling the disease, he said the forces have set up 96 centres in the country to conduct screening tests of HIV.
"Talking about carrying HIV is not a crime, but hiding it is. We don't take action against a soldier who comes and tells us that he is carrying the disease," he said.
Singh said the forces were already educating its soldiers on the disease by open discussions and through films.
He also advocated pre-marital screening for HIV, saying, "The disease should be taken seriously."
About the recent spate of suicides by soldiers, he said the AFMS had conducted a study which found there were multiple reasons behind this tendency of soldiers.
Categorically refuting that the number of cases of suicides among soldiers had increased, he said the most important factor behind suicides and depression was family left behind by soldiers while serving in the forces at frontiers and insurgency-prone areas.
