Hundreds turn out to Scotia Bank’s Regional Testing Day

By Joyette Mills-Ward
Business Reporter-SKNVibes.com

Basseterre, St. Kitts- OVER 200 persons seized the opportunity to be tested for HIV/AIDS at the Scotia Bank Regional Testing Day held last Friday, June 27th on Princes Street.

The testing was carried out free of cost and persons participating in the testing were able to receive same-day results.

SKNVibes.com spoke to Gardenia Destang-Richardson, National HIV/AIDS Programme Co-ordinator who said the initiative was made possible through the combined efforts of Scotia Bank, the National AIDS Secretariat and the Ministry of Health.

“The day was being observed as International Testing Day worldwide and Regional Testing Day within the region and though all islands were not obligated to participate, it was hoped that most of them would have. I would like to express gratitude to Scotia Bank for partnering with the National Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (NACHA) to sponsor the day. So far the feedback from the general public is extremely good and we have people still coming even after the time we should have closed off,” she said.

Destang-Richardson indicated that there were no prerequisites for testing, except that persons opting to be tested had to be counselled before the procedure and again before receiving the results. ~~Adz:Right~~

“We don’t just give HIV/AIDS tests just like that... the person has to understand the reason for getting tested for HIV/AIDS whether the result comes back negative or positive. The counsellors were trained locally and regionally and are here to give persons the information they need before getting tested.”

She explained that the organisers were able to guarantee same day results through partnership with the Avalon Medical Testing Facility and any sample that tested positive was retested twice before the result was confirmed and revealed to the subject.

The HIV/AIDS official estimated that about 220 persons were tested, saying that the “100th person tested received a $100 gift certificate compliments of Scotia Bank with which to open an account there and that the 200th person received a $200 certificate for the same purpose”.

Lillian Fleming, a representative of Scotia Bank also spoke to SKNVibes.com and said that the event was carried out in partnership with Caribbean Media Partnership (CBMP) on HIV/AIDS, N.A.C.H.A and Pan-Caribbean Partnership (PANCAP) Against HIV/AIDS.

“Scotia Bank staff embraced the initiative and lead by example by coming out to be tested first. We also provided the testing stations and covered the cost of more than 50% of the rapid result AIDS test kits,” she said.

On behalf of Scotia Bank, Fleming expressed pleasure at being able to sponsor this initiative for the Federation as a good corporate citizen and informed that it is the intention of Scotia Bank to host the event on an annual basis.