Quebec Physicians Must Report HIV Test Results to Public Health Officials

Originally published by Reuters Health, April 8, 2002

QUEBEC CITY, Canada (Reuters) — Physicians and laboratories in Quebec will have to inform public health officials of HIV infections, effective April 18, the province's Health Department said on Monday.

In making its announcement, the department was quick to offset privacy concerns, assuring that all data collected would remain confidential and would only include the age, the sex and HIV risk factors faced by the patient.

"It will be totally impossible to identify the people affected," the department said in a statement.

In a related ruling, the department said hepatitis C, which currently has to be declared by physicians, will also now have to be declared by laboratories.

The largely French-speaking province said it wanted to better follow the evolution of HIV infections and give better care to patients. The decision by Quebec leaves British Columbia as the only Canadian province in which declaring HIV infection is not compulsory.

According to federal health statistics, more than 50,000 Canadians are infected with HIV.