South China's Guangdong province is prepared to roll out a free-treatment program for HIV/AIDS infected people in the region within the year if the purchase of medicines for treatment is completed in time.

Cai Weiping, member of the Guangdong AIDS prevention and control expert committee, said the program is likely to start within the year, which includes free anti-viral drug treatment for rural HIV/AIDS infected people and those urbanites in poor economic conditions and free medical consultation and blood tests for all the infected.

In addition, orphans of deceased AIDS patients will be offered free education and pregnant HIV-positive women free medical consultation, tests and anti-viral drug treatment.

Latest statistics show that by the end of March, Guangdong had recorded 5,182 HIV/AIDS cases, ranking fifth in China, including 190 AIDS patients and 53 deaths from AIDS.

Experts say that the de-facto number of HIV-positive people in Guangdong is over 30,000, mainly concentrated in the Pearl River Delta.

But some experts call those figures a "best estimate", saying that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been spreading quickly from high-risk people to others in recent years.

Besides offering free medical treatment, said Tang Xiaoping, deputy director of the AIDS clinical expert team of the Ministry of Health, careful follow-up examination is essential to ensure the program generates fruits.

Only with regular physical examination can doctors make sure whether patients take medicines regularly and get better or not, he said.

At present, the estimated number of HIV carriers in China is approximately 840,000 according to official figures, among whom some 80,000 have full-blown AIDS, spread mostly through prostitution and intravenous drug use.

Source: Xinhua