Papua considers 'microchipping' people with HIV/AIDS

[Bluebear]

Holy cannoli, doesn't this sound Republican!


====

The Papua Legislative Council is deliberating a regulation that would see microchips implanted in people living with HIV/AIDS so authorities could monitor their actions.

According to Article 35 of the regulation on healthcare in the province, to supervise and control people with HIV/AIDS a "detection device is needed to monitor the movements and sexual activities of people with HIV/AIDS".

The article has been condemned by activists and government officials in the province as a gross violation of rights.

Dr. John Manansang, a member of the working group deliberating the regulation, told reporters in Jayapura that if the regulation was approved by the council in its present form, the article on microchips would be implemented.

He said the microchips would be implanted in people with HIV/AIDS who engaged in high-risk behavior, such as unprotected sex or the sharing of needles.

He said this was necessary to monitor the movements and activities of these people.

"It will only be imposed on people with HIV/AIDS who practice high-risk behaviors. Implanting the microchips is expected to check the number of people infected by the deadly virus in Papua."

Manansang said the spread of HIV/AIDS in Papua had reached a point where it "threatened the existence of the Papuan people", making it necessary that authorities introduce new policies to deal with the disease.

"Now nearly 24 percent of the Papuan population has been infected with HIV/AIDS. It's time to try a different policy ...," he said.

He said a special team would be set up to implant the microchips, and that the program would be kept guarded so most people would not know its details.

The head of the Papua chapter of the National AIDS Commission, Constant Karma, slammed the proposal as a violation of human rights.

"People with HIV/AIDS are not like sharks under observation so that they have to be implanted with microchips to monitor their movements. Any form of identification of people with HIV/AIDS violates human rights," he said.

Karma also questioned who was behind the proposed program.

"We're not involved in the process of its drafting, and then suddenly the draft appears ... we don't know who prepared the regulation."

Papua Health Office head Bagus Sukaswara also said his office had not been involved in the regulation.

"If the regulation is approved, who will be in charge of implementing the policy? I'm sure no doctors will be willing to do so. Giving out the identity of the patients ... would be a violation of their oaths as doctors," Bagus said.

Bagus said his office had submitted a draft regulation on healthcare to the council, and there was no mention of identifying and monitoring people with HIV/AIDS.

According to data from the Papua Health Office, the province has seen 3,375 people with HIV/AIDS.

This includes 1,879 people with HIV and 1,496 people with AIDS, including 356 who have died.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp

[piedmont]

1. First it's the sick, then the prisoners, then the poor...

and then everybody's chipped. Hooray.

[Crayson]

2. And where would that chip go into...?

... i mean any place the chip could be implanted safely would probably be some soft fat tissue.
Easy to remove.

But my question:
The chips are only the transmitters?
Where do they plant the receivers? At bus stations? Super markets?
Like in old times when lepres hat to carry bells so everybody could run screaming when they come?



Why not just give them a mobile phone? That would have the same effect concerning the "tracking" of their movements.