Greg, a person with AIDS

A FORMER call center agent—let’s call him Greg—came to my office on Monday asking for medical assistance and help in looking for a job.

Greg, 33, is gay.

He has a case of full-blown AIDS or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Skin eruptions are starting to show in different parts of his body.

His eyesight, he said, is becoming more blurred every day.

Greg can no longer read printed words in a book.

He needs intravenous medicine every day which costs P6,000 per injection.

His former boyfriend of three years and from whom he separated three years ago died on Feb. 5 at age 34, Greg said.

He claims society has ostracized him. Even some members of his family avoid him, much like they would do to a leper.

Unlike leprosy, a communicable disease acquired through close skin-to-skin contact with a leper, AIDS is transmitted through sexual contact.

Greg’s brother, whom he supported through college when he was still a highly-paid call center agent, drove him away from their home.

Greg claims he’s not getting enough support from the government.

The government should help AIDS patients like Greg and care for them in a special hospital.

The government should launch a public awareness campaign about HIV (human immuno-deficiency virus) that leads to AIDS.

It should care for AIDS patients because they might spread the disease out of desperation or spite by having unprotected sex with many people.

* * *

Greg told me he got AIDS from having sex with gay men like him at the call center where he once worked.

When I asked him about the identities of these men so I could warn the Department of Health (DOH), he said he would not know since there were many of them.

He said there are many gay men working in call centers.

According to Greg, he had sex with homosexuals—as well as straight men—in the rest rooms of the call center where he worked before.

I asked Greg whether he thought of using a condom when he was having sex, and he said no.

He said he found out he had AIDS in January 2015 when he went to an eye doctor to have himself checked for an eye injury that wouldn’t heal.

Greg said the ophthalmologist told him to take an HIV test. That’s when he found out he was positive for the virus.

Greg said he would like to work as a volunteer for the DOH so he could teach the youth how to avoid HIV-AIDS.

He wants to be useful to society before he passes, Greg said.