Most IDUs use unclean syringes, says ex-user
Most IDUs use unclean syringes, says ex-user
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives held a discussion on Wednesday
focused on giving injecting drug users (IDUs) easy access to
sterile syringes to contain the rapid spread of the Human Immuno-
deficiency Virus (HIV) among them.
"It is hard to get sterile syringes and therefore IDUs tend to
share syringes, a way that makes it easy for them to get infected
with HIV/AIDS," Yoga, an ex-IDU now living with HIV, said on
Wednesday in a public dialog at the House compound.
In Indonesia, only medical doctors can legally obtain
syringes. IDUs get them from the black market, where they are
hard to find and expensive, so they usually used them
collectively, said Yoga.
Spokesperson for Family Health International (FHI) Pandu Riono
told The Jakarta Post that only 6 percent of IDUs in the Jakarta,
Bandung and Surabaya areas their own sterile syringes.
"In Jakarta, 25 out of every 1,000 high school students
injects illegal drugs," he said, suggesting that many thousands
of young people were sharing needles.
IDUs usually have places to store syringes secretly and go
there when they need them.
"In Kampung Bali, a notorious drug-trafficking area in Central
Jakarta, 115 out of 117 IDUs who volunteered to get an HIV test
were found positive," said Pandu.
The Ministry of Health, Pelita Ilmu Foundation (YPI) and FHI
will do a trial cooperation in the monitoring of the developments
of IDUs in Kampung Bali, supplying them with sterile syringes,
said Pandu.
"However, if we or anyone other than doctors hand over
syringes to IDUs, we could be considered in violation of the
law," he said.
On Tuesday, Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi said that his
ministry had discussions with the national police on the
possibility of giving sterile syringes to IDUs, but no agreement
had yet been reached.
Wednesday's dialog was part of a one-week campaign to educate
House members about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, so they will some
understanding when a related bill is deliberated upon.