Dessy Sagita – A Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker was under fire on Monday for advocating that HIV-positive patients were undeserving of free medication because they needed to be punished for leading "unhealthy lifestyles."
"It's ironic that [patients with] illnesses like HIV/AIDS get free drugs," Wirianingsih said, as quoted by Indonesian news portal Kompas.com. "There should be some kind of punishment for them for not practicing a healthy lifestyle."
Wirianingsih, a member of Commission IX overseeing health matters, made the comments during a hearing with the Ministry of Health on Wednesday last week.
"We are deeply concerned that such a statement came out from a member of Commission IX that oversees health issues and has the power over the health budget," Aditya Wardhana, the executive director of the Indonesia AIDS Coalition, told the Jakarta Globe on Monday.
A 2011 report by UNAIDS estimated 380,000 people were HIV-positive, while a 2009 count by the Ministry of Health said 6.4 million people were classified as "at risk" of contracting HIV.
"This is not the first time a member of Commission IX has blurted out a counterproductive statement like this," Aditya said.
Last year, the head of the commission, the PDI-P's Ribka Tjibtaning, was criticized after she said many people living with HIV purposely left used toothpicks in a restaurant to infect other people. Ribka is a medical doctor.
Aditya said negative comments about free ARV programs would put lives at risk. "Countless medical studies have proven that, with regular ARV treatment, not only can we improve quality of life, but we can also reduce the transmission rate," he said.
The secretary of the National AIDS Commission (KPAN), Kemal Siregar, said Wirianingsih's comments would make people more reluctant to seek medical attention. "Stigma and discrimination will push people away, they will not want to be tested and those who are infected will not want to get treatment," he said.
Kemal said most people living in HIV in Indonesia were from impoverished backgrounds. "Many of them cannot afford the drugs if it's not free and, whatever the cause of the infection, it does not give us any reason to blame them," he said.
Wirianingsih has since attempted to row back from her comments, writing on her Twitter account that she had been misunderstood.
"What I meant by 'punishment' was obviously not social or legal punishment," she wrote, "but to ask them to pay higher health insurance premiums as a form of responsibility."
Under the national program, some 32,000 people living with HIV in Indonesia are enrolled in a program to receive free antiretrovirals.