The Tooro Kingdom deputy minister of health, Mr George Kihika, has asked the government to carry out mandatory HIV testing in an effort to stamp out the Aids scourge in the country.

Mr said this on June 26 at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital at Buhinga where the Minister of Health, Stephen Malinga, launched the Routine Counselling and Testing (RCT) services.

But in response, the national coordinator, HIV Counseling & Testing (HCT) at the Aids Control Programme in the Ministry of Health, Benon Tumwesigye, said Uganda is a law abiding country and also observes the international conventions on human rights. Mr Tumwesigye said, "We should observe human rights and respect confidentiality in Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT)".

Dr Malinga said, "It is government policy to encourage everybody to know their HIV status in order to access care and also reduce HIV transmission". He said that Uganda started testing for HIV in 1990 with VCT as a main approach and later in 2002 HCT was part of the comprehensive and integrated approach to HIV/Aids prevention, care and support interventions.