An 11-year-old boy, who reportedly told a doctor that he intentionally got infected with HIV from his 18-year-old girlfriend “to become buddies”, has caused an uproar on social media, according to the “Aggressive not Doctor” web page.

A post on the page on Monday told the story of an unidentified boy who visited a doctor with a venereal infection. The doctor, whose name was not mentioned, suggested an HIV test, but the boy reportedly told the doctor that there was no need for test because he had willingly exposed himself to the disease, so he could become infected like his 18-year-old girlfriend.

The story attracted many comments, most of which expressed concern for the boy.

One of the comments came from Rinthipond Varinvatchararoj, a party-list MP for Pheu Thai party, who wrote in her “X” post expressing concern over the rising number of HIV infection among minors.

In 2022, she wrote that there were 54 HIV cases involving minors under 15 and there were 4,379 HIV cases in the 15-24 age group.

She criticised sex education in Thai schools as being outdated, adding that the Ministry of Education must openly accept the necessity of straight-forward sex education in classrooms, not just for preventing sexually-transmitted diseases, but also recognising the joy of sex and understanding abortion.