ABU DHABI // A 45-year-old Emirati with HIV said there should be a “matchmaking” programme for people in his position, reported a local daily.
“I’m a grown man and I have my needs,” said A A. “Does the Government want me to commit adultery and risk infecting someone else?
“No one will accept that their daughter [will] marry someone with HIV and I don’t want to pass the disease to anyone. Why don’t they help me find a suitable wife?
“Or would they like me to go abroad and marry a foreigner, and bring her back to the UAE?”
A A contracted the virus in 1986 after a blood transfusion. He lives with his parents.
“My family are not worried that I have Aids. My mother just wants to see me married and have children.”
In his quest to find a partner, A A asked for a letter from the Judicial Department to demand that the Health Authority find him a wife who is also HIV-positive.
“I was ignored,” he said. “I went to the Health Authority over and over again, but they just told me to go away and find a wife on my own. How am I supposed to do that? What are my chances of finding a woman with HIV? They have a database with everyone with the disease, so why can’t they help me?”
He insists on marrying an Emirati.
“All expats are deported as soon as they test positive for HIV, so I have no chance with an expat. And why would I want to bring a foreigner into the UAE with HIV instead of helping an Emirati woman with the disease who also wants to get married?”
A A said there should be support groups for patients like him.
