WAILUKU - A state Department of Health employee who had been providing free HIV and hepatitis A and B testing on Maui as well as hepatitis vaccinations has left the position to move to the Mainland, said Department of Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo.
And, because of a statewide hiring freeze of new employees, the position will remain unfilled and the Health Department-sponsored testing won't be available on Maui for the foreseeable future, Okubo said.
However, "we will eventually fill it," she said. But even when the freeze is lifted and someone else is hired, that person will need to go through a period of training.
There is no backup for the state employee who had been providing the service.
People seeking testing can go to a private health care provider or to the Community Clinic of Maui, but patients are charged for the service based on a sliding scale, Okubo said.
The Maui AIDS Foundation provides HIV testing, but it is targeted for certain risk groups, she said.
Those groups are of people whose behavior puts them at risk of contracting the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome, said Keith Wolter, executive director of the foundation.
Wolter said the foundation would talk with state health officials to see how it could fill the gap for people who need testing.
To talk to an AIDS Foundation HIV testing counselor, call 242-4900. The testing is done anonymously.
