No more free STD checks as NY cuts back at health clinics

No more free STD screenings at city health clinics to cut costs
BY Kathleen Lucadamo
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Thursday, August 11th 2011, 4:00 AM



The city's free medical clinics are no longer offering STD screenings that are intended to limit the spread of the diseases, the Daily News has learned.

In March, the Health Department quietly stopped routinely giving tests for sexually transmitted diseases to each New Yorker who goes to its clinics. The agency cited budgetary constraints as the reason for the change.

"The vast majority, more than 90%, of screening visits had no infection detected, yet cost the agency in excess of $400,000 a year," said agency spokeswoman Chanel Caraway.

The city clinics will still offer tests to patients who have STD "symptoms or [are] at high risk for infection," and they will also do HIV testing, said Caraway.

At the same time, city health officials are also redirecting most people in need of an STD test to privately run community clinics. "Routine screening is best managed in a primary care setting," Caraway said.

Roughly 82,000 New Yorkers were diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease last year, up from 75,000 in 2008, Health Department stats show. STDs include chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, and common symptoms are genital sores and pain during urination.

Nystyle709 wrote:Detrimental. But....all you have to do is claim you have symptoms and get tested. So I hope that's what people will do.