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Treatment to Indonesian Military Personnels Infected with HIV/AIDS

JAKARTA, - Servicemen who have contracted the HIV/AIDS disease should not be returned to their families before definitive medical decisions have been made about them, a legislator said.

"I am afraid HIV/AIDS infected servicemen who are returned to their families will infect their respective wives and children," Fayakhun Andriadi said here Saturday.

Fayakhun, a member of the House of Representatives’ (DPR) Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs, said the fact that a number of servicemen prove to suffer from HIV/AIDS posed a serious problem for Indonesia.

"Therefore, Chief of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) General Djoko Santoso should not play down this case," he said.

The military authorities need to take immediate actions to find out the root causes and resolve the problem, he said. Andriadi said he was not only concerned about the fate of the TNI personnel but also about the foreign media’s news coverage of the case.

"I am afraid, if this case is blown up by foreign media, the TNI’s image will be ruined. The TNI chief must think about it," he said.

Marthen Indey Hospital in the Papuan city of Jayapura had recorded that as of May 2010, there were 144 army members who had contracted the deadly disease. Four of them had died while the rest was still receiving medication, Head of the Marthen Indey Hospital Yenny Purnama said.

In response to this case, another member of the House’s Commission I, Tubagus Hasanuddin, said the TNI should provide medical treatment for its affected personnel. But the TNI should soon discharge the TNI personnel who had contracted the disease because they would no longer be able to perform their tasks effectively, he said.

"If they have really been infected with the HIV/AIDS viruses, they should be discharged and given medical treatment immediately," he said.(KOMPAS.com)