Security recruitment: 1,300 applicants tested positive for HIV – Muntaka
About 1,300 applicants who participated in Ghana’s recent security services recruitment exercise tested positive for HIV during mandatory medical screening, Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak told Parliament on Tuesday.
Appearing before Parliament’s Assurance Committee on Tuesday (7 July), Muntaka said the government chose not to communicate applicants’ HIV status through impersonal means, stressing that such information should only be disclosed after appropriate counselling.
“In the recent recruitment, we had, I think, about 1,300 or so that were on HIV. Can you imagine sending somebody a result without telling the person that you have HIV? That is not the procedure. The person has to go through some orientation,” he said.
The minister said applicants who were disqualified during the recruitment process were provided with contact details to enable them seek clarification on the reasons for their disqualification.
He said the approach was intended to protect applicants’ privacy while ensuring they could access information about their medical status through the appropriate process.
Muntaka said the medical screening also identified applicants with conditions including hepatitis B, heart-related illnesses, mental health conditions, previous major surgeries and drug-related issues.
He encouraged unsuccessful applicants to obtain their medical results, noting that some of the conditions detected are treatable and that early diagnosis could enable affected persons to seek medical care and potentially qualify for future recruitment exercises.
“Some of the things that we realised are treatable. People need to know and then also get treatment so that subsequent recruitment they could join,” he said.
The minister added that knowing one’s medical condition was important regardless of whether it ultimately affected eligibility for recruitment.
