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First Viagra, now Rigiscan!

Well, heck, time was when sex was simple -- a matter of desire on the part of both partners, the requisite privacy, and... well, you know the rest.

Not any more, apparently -- not if science has anything to do with it.

So don't be too surprised if, one of these days, you find yourself sleeping with two rings attached, respectively, the base and head of your penis, said rings in turn hooked to a machine which will, over eight hours, record erectile activity of the male sex organ.

The point of the exercise? To determine whether you are, or not, impotent.

And no, it is not as simple as, if you can get it up, you are fine, if not, not. You need those rings and scanner, because you just could be impotent and not even know it.

All this is courtesy Vijayawada-based urologist Dr C Nageshwara Rao and his patented device, named -- with startling originality -- Rigiscan.

The gadget, says the good doctor, is meant to "assess and diagnose the sexual potency of a person", with a view to a cure if needed.

Dr Rao says that diabetes, smoking, hypertension, atherosclerosis, alcoholism, medications and Father Time himself are all factors contributing to increasing instances of impotency, especially among males in the 40 to 70 age group.

Fifty two per cent of men in that age group, says Dr Rao, suffer some degree of erectile dysfunction.

"Diagnosing erectile dysfunction and arterial agigraphy is the most important factor in curing impotence," says Dr Rao, adding that his machine is designed to do just that.

What, not Viagra? "It will have side effects which are as yet uncalculated," the doctor warns.

Dr Rao feels the trouble is that in India, the stigma attached to impotence leads sufferers to go to quacks, with dangerous consequences.

"The computerised assessment of nocturnal penile tumesence can be studied scientifically with my machine," says Dr Rao.

But why do you need a machine to tell you whether or not you have an erection?

"This machine records erectile activity over a period of eight hours, providing a graphic representation of the number and quality of erections achieved over that period," is the explanation. "That in turn helps differentiate between psychognic and organic impotence. And then the problem can be cured, by means of surgery."

There is, of course, this catch -- what does the guy do, happen he does have an erection? With rings and machines attached and going 'bleep' at him, he might be able to satisfy scientific curiosity -- but he sure as shooting can't do what he would most like to.

Then again, why would that concern a scientist?

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