Nursing students with a positive HIV test result face serious difficulties in completing their mandatory internships. Medical facilities with which universities cooperate require candidates to have a negative test result. Deputy Ombudsman Stanislaw Trociuk is intervening in the matter, directing questions to the National AIDS Center.
Nursing students with HIV excluded from internships. RPO asks about guidelines
Published March 24, 2025 07:54
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The Ombudsman's Office has received reports of cases in which nursing students with a positive HIV test result are being excluded from the possibility of professional practice. Universities require applicants to submit test results, arguing that this is a requirement of the medical facilities they work with. In practice, this means that students who test positive may not graduate.
Even if a university decides to accept a student, providing support in dealing with medical facilities, it requires the student to disclose detailed health information. Such situations, reports indicate, can apply not only to nursing, but also to other health-related majors.
In this connection, Deputy Ombudsman Stanislaw Trociuk addressed the director of the National AIDS Center, Anna Marzec-Boguslawska, asking for a position on the issue. He asks, among other things, whether the Center has received similar reports and what action has been taken on the matter.
The deputy RPO also wants to determine whether the National Program for HIV Prevention and AIDS Control 2022-2026 has developed guidelines for medical facilities to counter discrimination against HIV-positive people. If there are no such guidelines, he asks whether their creation is planned.
The case raises serious questions about compliance with the principles of equal treatment and anti-discrimination. The pending position of the National AIDS Center may influence further action to protect the rights of medical students and candidates.
Source: RPO
