A total of 63 HIV carriers in Guangdong
Province will receive free medical treatment with traditional
Chinese medicine from mid September.
The move was part of a five-province campaign to curb the spread
of the AIDS. The campaign was launched Aug. 20 and was costing
almost nine million yuan (US$1.09 million), the Southern
Metropolitan News reported Wednesday.
The project was designed to provide medical aid to some 2,000
HIV carriers in Guangdong, Hebei, Anhui, Henan and Hubei provinces,
areas with the country's worst AIDS outbreaks in recent years, the
report said.
Guangdong had received almost one million yuan and would provide
free treatment for 63 patients, said Cai Weiping, an
AIDS-prevention expert at the Guangzhou No. 8 Hospital. The
hospital has been selected by state authorities to use traditional
Chinese medicine to treat HIV carriers.
Cai said traditional Chinese medicine had no side effects and
was an ideal way to treat people who could not tolerate cocktail
treatment. It was also cost-effective at less than eight yuan a
day.
However, Cai admitted that the treatment was still being tested
and it was too early to evaluate the curative effect.
He also said there was a shortage of funds to provide free
treatment in the province, which had more than 30,000 HIV
carriers.
(Shenzhen Daily September 1, 2004)