Beijing offers free AIDS consultation By Li Jing (China Daily) Updated: 2004-08-13 02:41
The Chinese capital is busy setting up 19 outpatient services offering free
AIDS consultations and examination, according to the Beijing Disease Prevention
and Control Centre.
Nearly 100 professionals have received a two-day training course that closed
Thursday and will soon take up the posts, said He Xiong, vice-director of the
centre.
He said people who have health concerns can come to the service stations and
consult doctors face-to-face at no cost. The municipal government will pay the
preliminary HIV test fee of 50 yuan (US$6) per person.
He guaranteed that every person who come to the outpatient centres will be
treated with the strictest confidence.
The outcome of an HIV test, identified by a certain code rather than by the
name of the examinee, can be made available the same day.
But if the outcome is positive, a further test will be required to confirm
this, said He.
In June this year, the municipal government issued a notice on free AIDs
consultation and examination, which stipulates that local governments will
support those who cannot afford the follow-up tests.
He said his centre has already set up such an outpatient service station and
the other 18 services at district and county levels will soon be established.
Lu Hongyan, head of the municipal AIDS prevention and control service, said
the city has more than 60 labs that can conduct HIV tests. But free consultation
and examination will only initially be available at the 19 outpatient services.
People can call the station at 6223-8683 for further information, said Lu.
Besides the free consultation and examination, the capital city will also
provide free anti-HIV drugs to AIDS patients and HIV sufferers, according to the
Beijing Health Bureau.
The bureau has designated Ditan Hospital and You'an Hospital as free AIDS
treatment hospitals, which are responsible for the clinical side of free AIDS
treatment.
Statistics from the bureau show that by 2003, Beijing had discovered 1,648
cases of people infected with HIV and AIDS. Experts believe that the exact
number is actually far higher than that.
Among the 1,648 cases, 338 are native Beijingers, 1,215 are originally from
other provinces and 95 are foreign nationals. The epidemic situation is ranked
seventh nationwide.
