In OhMyNews, Michael Solis, a visiting researcher at the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, looks at the dilemma faced by foreigners thinking of getting tested for HIV in Korea:
If you are a foreigner residing in South Korea who has ever toyed with the idea of determining your HIV/AIDS status, then prepare yourself for an inevitable and disturbing dilemma. That is, will the risks of getting an HIV test outweigh the risks of not getting one?
In Korean hospitals and medical clinics, a foreign patient’s anonymity and confidentiality are by no means guaranteed, especially when it comes to HIV testing. In fact, hospitals and clinics will report the names of foreigners found to be infected with HIV or AIDS to immigration, resulting in sure and swift deportation.
Interestingly, Korea is only one of nine countries in the world that ban HIV-positive individuals from entering the country. Also included in that nine are the United States and China.
(HT to reader)
17 Comments
Not true. The Yongsan-Gu Office Health Centre provides anonymous, free AIDS/HIV testing. You give the sample, they give you a number, you call back with the number and get the result. No ID, no names. The UN liaison office in Itaewon will even drive you there.
That’s good to know! Thanks MrMao.
The lack of confidentiality is self-defeating.The practice of detecting and revealing HIV posative people is meant to protect the public. It has the opposite effect, since it means people are reluctant to get tested, and therefore are more likely to unknowingly infect others.
Sure there are no hidden cameras/call display things going on ? Sorry for the paranoid perspective, but I am not easily convinced that rights to personal privacy are well recognized in Korea, at least not for foreigners.
china is in the process of lifting the ban and bush has tried to get the ban lifted as well.
why the fuck would you want to let those people in? Maybe for treatment, other than that keep em out.
#1 - BS. There is no anonymity in actuality. From what doctors tell me, they are required by LAW to report anyone coming up HIV+, and for example, pregnant women are regularly given the test without consent, as a matter of course.
And from a friend’s personal experience, she had to help send the belongings of an ex-roommate who went to the doctor for chicken pox, said he probably got it from his boyfriend, at which point he was given an HIV test without consent, he came up positive, at which point he was chained to his hospital bed until he could be summarily deported. He wasn’t even allowed to pack. He left under police guard. And he was never explicitly told he was HIV+ nor that he had been tested. I guess he figured it out at some point.
You get tested, you come up positive, you’ll be arrested and deported. Period. There will be no time to pack, no time to make arrangements. Make whatever decisions you need to make with that knowledge in mind.
literally chained to the bed?
so those free HIV test banner ads on the english spectrum and worknplay are traps?
Wow they sure did the HIV test rather quickly, or did they chain him once he returned for the results? I though it took a bid of time to do the testing. I just had my employment physical(for the first time in three years teaching here in Korea)and it took several days for the blood work results, which by Canadian standards is rather quick might I add.
Remember, all foreigners have HIV/AIDS and Koreans are immune to the virus.
Seriously though…I dont think it’s actually a good idea to have people know that they would be immediately kicked out of the country once he/she is found to have the virus. It would serve as a deterrent for people to get checked out. There’s gotta be a better way to get everyone checked out, including the immune Koreans.
A GS-13 was recently deported in 24 hours after he tested HIV+.
Speaking of public health I recently visited my Gu’s medical office to get some vaccinations not available at the hospital, for instance cholera. They wouldn’t give me the vaccination - I was happily prepared to pay - because I didn’t have a resident ID, and the computer system couldn’t process the form without that ID #.
With all the illegal workers here, including those from the third world, you’d think the gov’t would recognize this systemic flaw could affect the greater good.
#9: Immune, eh? Well if the kimchi made Koreans immune to SARS, what’s doing it for HIV? Is it the boshintang? Dwenjang? Kimchi again?
And if it’s just genetic, here’s the real question:
would you rather be immune to HIV/Aids but vulnerable to fan death, or vice versa?
Tough trade-off, that. Do dual-citizen kyopos and half-Koreans get to choose?
Until we have answers to these difficult questions of life, I think I’ll keep a package of condoms handy.
It’s probably because kimchi can’t cure AIDS/HIV that they’re so paranoid about it. Every nation should implement such a protocol and should test people on arrival…while I feel bad for those who got it from birth, many simply get it from not being careful. Got it from the locals? Well, different story, shouldn’t get deported then and so testing on arrival would make the distinction easier…but then, when dealing with an incurable disease, should be more careful.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH.....en.std.ap/
http://www.agapeprc.org/std.php
Has anyone talked to any E-6 visa holders? They’ve had to get the HIV test since who knows when, so they would probably know better than the rest of us how the process works.
Seems like if they want to keep out people with various diseases that it’s very much within their natural sovereign rights (i I said that right…).
What’s a GS-13?
Anyway, Metro, it ain’t BS. I’ve done it, got the negative over the phone. It’s quite possible that a positive would be handled differently, I don’t know. But seriously, you go to Wonhyo-ro Yongsan-gu Cheong, walk up to the 2nd floor, they take a blood sample, give you a number, you call back with the number, they tell you the result. For reals. The UNAIDS clinic is close to the Kyongnidan intersection, across from Haebangcheon above the IBK/Finebank. And yes, they will even drive you there.
You know, the article also mentions a place in Seoul (KHAP) that does free, anonymous testing close to Sungshin W.Univ.
They had a condoms convention here or something like that and Korea is supposed to be a big condom exporter. Why in the frig is it then that getting one that is expansive enough to accomodate my pinky finger is so difficult? I don’t mind using a condom but all I can do with the ones here is make balloon insects.