Military personnel who indulge in unprotected sex will be put on anti-retroviral therapy within 24 hours to minimise the risk of HIV, a top armed forces official said on Friday.
Defence personnel have been asked to inform their seniors if they happen to indulge in unprotected sex. The idea is to immediately put the personnel on anti-retroviral therapy as the virus can be killed within 24 hours of a person getting infected, the Director General of the Armed Forces Medical Services Vice Admiral V K Singh said on Thursday.
Singh, who was in Pune to attend a "continuous rehabilitation educational programme" at the Artificial Limb Centre in Pune, said this was part of the anti-HIV drive in the armed forces.
"The anti-HIV programme has been a success story and our model is even being implemented in the US," he said adding, that the armed forces treated HIV like any other ailment.
"It is because of sensitisation of the personnel and awareness created about HIV that we have not had a single case of AIDS this year. We detected HIV in only 33 personnel in 2005," Singh said.
The rate of HIV infection in the armed forces is 0.028 per cent. Advocating the need for compulsory HIV screening test for recruits, he said the proposal has got a go-ahead from the Chiefs of Staff Committee, but is awaiting approval from by the defence ministry.
Pointing out that suicidal tendencies in armed forces personnel was at a negligible level, Singh said society needs to be sensitive towards them.