Fiji's prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, has called on people suffering from the HIV/AIDS virus to come out of hiding and publicly identify themselves.
The Fiji Sun reports that Mr Qarase made the comment on a Fijian language radio talk back show in response to questions from listeners.
He said if HIV positive people do not identify themselves, it would be unfair on the rest of the community who do not have a clue about a person's health status.
He said this would deprive a community of their rights.
Mr Qarase said normally people are only concerned about individual rights without thinking much about the collective rights of the community.
But the comments have angered the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre which has asked whether the government will provide medicine and a place of shelter for people who expose their condition.
The Centre's director, Shamima Ali, says the big question is whether society is prepared to accept people with HIV so they are not stigmatised and victimised.
Meanwhile, legislation is being prepared in Fiji to make it a criminal offence to deliberately pass on the HIV/AIDS virus to another person.
