Legislators in the Indonesian province of Papua are debating whether to approve a bill allowing microchips to be implanted in people with HIV.And they're apparently not planning on stopping at microchips.
The measure has been put forward as a way of preventing the spread of HIV in the Indonesian province. About 2.4% of Papuans are known to be carrying the virus, and infection rates in the province are estimated to be 15 times the national average.
As well as calling for the introduction of microchips, the bill also suggests mandatory testing of every resident in Papua.It's certainly not an idea you'd hear anyone advancing around here.
Parliamentarians are reported to have discussed tattooing those found to be carrying the virus.
A couple of years ago, after experiencing what paramedics euphemistically refer to as a "syncopal episode", I found myself in hospital for the biological equivalent of a 72 hour automobile diagnostic.
When machine science failed to turn up any foreign objects or obvious defects in the old brainbox... the neurology residents started spitballin... and one of their ideas was to test for sexually transmitted diseases, including of course, HIV/AIDS. I gather the request stirs up a good bit of resentment in these parts because of the rather tentative way they asked for my permission.
As a non-junkie and unashamedly monogamous, heterosexual husband & father, I hadn't expected this particular request... but as the recipient of a single tattoo acquired some ten years previous, from a less than surgical suite type operation, I agreed to their request.
Compared to the repeated, and less than pleasant extraction of spinal fluid... it seemed like a pretty insignificant procedure.
As it turns out, the tests came back negative and to this day, no one has the faintest idea what happened that fateful night... but the whole experience gave me an appreciation for the importance of personal health.
I'm guessing I'm also one of the few people around here who can actually prove they're not syphilitic, or HIV positive. Not that it'll ever come up in polite conversation.
No real lofty point to all this... I just figured I'd share.
I guess I'm also glad I don't live in Indonesia.
