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Oil Indonesian province may microchip HIV patients
November 25, 2008 Edition 2
JAKARTA: Members of the provincial parliament in Papua, Indonesia, have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some people with HIV/Aids to be implanted with microchips - part of extreme efforts to monitor the disease.
Health workers and rights activists have slammed the remote province's plan.
But MP John Manangsang said implanting small computer chips beneath the skin of "sexually aggressive" patients would put authorities in a better position to identify, track and ultimately punish those who deliberately infected others. The penalty is six months in jail or a $5 000 fine.
A committee would be created to determine who should be fitted with chips and to monitor patients' behaviour.
The proposed legislation has received full backing from the provincial parliament and, if it gains a majority vote, is to be enacted next month.
About 290 000 of Indonesia's 235 million people have HIV, but the infection rate is one of the fastest-growing in Asia.
The number of cases in Papua, the country's poorest province, is 15 times the national average. - Sapa-AP
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