Thanks to an anonymous reader who provided this background on the use of HIV test results in a creative fashion by people in the military.

[him] moderator

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That practice reported by KN is not yet known by AIDS workers in Myanmar but the policy has been more stringent for HIV-infected servicemen. If an officer or even a private is found to be positive for HIV (although it is more common for the officers' to get their serostatus checked--before a promotion, higher level training or a foreign trip), he will be immediately released from service. After that, as a veteran, he will still be entitled to the military health care system for life.

For those who want to leave the service for different reasons but do not want to just desert, an HIV positive certificate is quite valuable and hence the virus was sometimes dubbed the 'golden bug'. A false certificate has to be, of course, bought at varying prices. It is used for leaving the service totally than just to avoid going to the frontline for a period such as the current conflicts up north in the country. Other kinds of illnesses, such as migraine or gastritis may more easily be made up to avoid frontlines for a while. That point in the story may not tally with the policy. Besides, hospitalization is usually not required for confirmation of HIV infection--just a test result will do.

For promotions, higher level training and foreign trips, tests for hepatitis B and C are also conducted upon the military personnel but their positive results will not lead to immediate removal as with HIV status. Those officers with evidence of type B or C hepatitis may be transferred to other departments from civil service such as police, immigration and customs.

Testing servicemen's blood started around early nineties. The leaders then devised a plan to 'purify' the military by testing HIV, hep B and C, and managing the so-called 'ABC'. Those desperate to leave the service simply found the policy exploitable for their purpose.

This clever misuse of an inappropriate discriminatory policy highlights human creativity, and it must be a rare case of an individual's preference to a positive HIV test result.