10 Philippine BPO agents test positive for HIV
By Juan Dela Cruz 

In a recent interview, an official of the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) has revealed that among the recent cases reported to them were ten call center agents who have tested positive for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which is the progenitor of the notoriously incurable AIDS. Naturally, for privacy reasons, they were not named or any information identifying them made public.

Dr. Susan Gregorio, an officer of the PNAC, revealed that the ten people were identified to be Call Center agents through their profiles and were unaware of their dangerous conditions until the bad news came about. All of the ten call center agents were being tested as part of the mandatory blood tests required while applying for work in other countries.

The good doctor also revealed that this report is significant because it represents a huge surge in HIV positive tests within a given occupation. The PNAC reports these HIV positive results were known only as early as January of 2008, when in previous years results like these were literally unknown or negligible.

Some sources from the industry have suggested that these developments came about due to many factors in play in a typical call center agent’s daily life. Call center work stress and above average salaries have created an environment more susceptible to bad judgments including unhealthy sexual practices.

Generally, stressed out male call center agents can afford to drink alcohol everyday, smoke cigarettes as much as they want and visit brothels every payday because their salary is large enough to support these types of vices.

(For questions or comments, please email me at 1delacruise at gmail dot com)

Techgoss note:  The World Bank in conjunction with the Confederation of Indian Industries will be soon releasing a case studies report about HIV/AIDS in the Indian tech industry.  The CEO of Satyam BPO, Mr. Roddam is quoted as saying: “The IT industry employs the youngest workforce which is prone to be infected with AIDS, but it is also a young industry that is open to changes”.

The Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society is promoting a more aggressive fight against AIDS by asking for the installation of  condom vending machines in Indian software companies.