Officials suggest HIV test for Sea Games athletes

JAKARTA (JP): A senior sports official of the National Sports Council (KONI) suggested yesterday that all Indonesian athletes to be sent to the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, be tested for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) before and after the Games.

That might be a good way of warning them about the danger of contracting HIV, given that about 80 percent of the prostitutes in Chiang Mai are infected with the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), says Sarengat, KONI's deputy training director.

The 55-year-old Sarengat, a general practitioner in the Army, said he was informed of the high prevalence of AIDS in the mountainous region of northern Thailand by his colleague Hudiono, who visited Chiang Mai last September. Ninety percent of patients in Chiang Mai's hospitals are AIDS patients, Sarengat added.

However, if his suggestion were taken, Sarengat said, he was afraid it might give the impression that Indonesian athletes are morally loose.

Another problem is that testing athletes for HIV would mean an additional financial burden for KONI, he added.

Sarengat was commenting on reports that a senior Filipino sports official denounced on Thursday press reports suggesting that the Filipino government planned to equip the country's Southeast Asian Games contingent with condoms to protect them from AIDS.

Preventive measures are the best way for athletes to counter AIDS, according to Sarengat. This means refraining from having sex while staying there for the Games, which are slated for Dec. 9 to Dec. 17, even though the Games' organizing committee will make condoms available to athletes.

Sarengat said KONI has tried to make athletes fully aware of the danger of AIDS through its coaches and officials.

However, the final decision rests with the athletes, said Sarengat, who was a private physician for two former Indonesian vice presidents.

"Even though they are given condoms, can you guarantee that they will use them? If they think that condoms are not comfortable and, so, prefer to have it bare, who knows?" said the former KONI secretary-general. (arf)