HIV — albeit the wide exposure and the numerous amount of resources that you could find online regarding this virus, it’s still heavily stigmatised by the community. For some background information, HIV is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. If HIV is not treated, it can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). You can get HIV from contact with infected blood, semen, or vaginal fluids. Most people get the virus by having unprotected sex with someone who has HIV. Another common way of getting it is by sharing drug needles with someone who is infected with HIV.
Now, since we’ve got the basics cleared, here’s the issue at hand. A medical officer is under fire for preaching on TikTok about HIV being God’s way of punishing those who commit sexual immorality. The doctor in question, Mohd Izham, a trainee doctor at the Kuala Perlis health clinic, shut himself off on social media today, a day after the clip of him preaching drew backlash from netizens. These backlash includes, calling on the Health Ministry to take action against him.
The TikTok clip was originally published on 16th September and it showed Mohd Izham telling his audience about a patient confessing to having multiple sexual partners after testing positive for the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.
Mohd Izam continued, by saying, “I had a bad feeling about it… he either had syphilis, HIV, or gonorrhoea, so he took a blood test.” He named the patient as “Azrul” for anonymity purposes and even went on to describe the scabs he saw on the patient’s genitals.
Adding on, Mohd Izam said, “True enough, the patient was HIV-positive.” Apparently, he was shocked hearing Azrul’s purpoted “scandals” and he further gave his thoughts regarding this matter by saying, “God created HIV [as] a punishment for those who had premarital sex.”
He wasn’t done yet, though! He carried on urging the fact that those having sex before marriage should repent. The clinic, reportedly did not respond to any comment pertaining to this and surprisingly enough, Mohd Izham, is also the administrator of a Facebook group dedicated to the clinic. His TikTok has been set to private too while his Instagram and Facebook accounts were no longer publicly available. The video has been viewed nearly 150,000 times on Twitter. Pretty sure he must be scared about the backlash, huh?
Twitter users jumped on the bandwagon to chide the medical officer’s remarks. Twitter user, Ardnie said, “He’s an assistant medical officer. Please avoid people like him if you’re looking to test for HIV or STDs. It will be so stressful. Do not pass judgment and jump to conclusions about patients even if it appears clear to you. It’s wrong.”
Another user, Afifizawawie made a complaint on the Health Ministry’s website which states, “The comments made are uncalled for, blatantly [equating] the disease as God’s punishment doesn’t contribute to [reducing] the ever-existing stigma. Very unprofessional coming from a medical fraternity.”
Source: Coconuts
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