A special AIDS control group consisting of specialists from Chinese ministries recently visited an AIDS-plagued village in central China’s Henan Province.
During their stay in Henan, the central AIDS control group listened to reports by local officials about the AIDS situation, and they braved the heat-wave to visit Wenlou Village, one of the worst hit areas by the fatal AIDS disease in Henan, to get first-hand information about the deadly disease.
They visited village clinics and homes of AIDS patients and HIV carriers, saw AIDS patients who are receiving medical treatment at local hospitals, chatted with villagers, HIV carriers, and representatives of AIDS patients, and had lunch with the patients.
Yin Dakui, head of the group and also vice minister of health, conveyed the greetings of the central Chinese leaders to the AIDS patients and their relatives, and carried out medical checkups on some AIDS patients, encouraging them to overcome pessimistic sentiments and actively cooperate with medical workers to fight the fatal disease.
Li Zhibin, deputy governor of Henan, pledged that his province would adopt effective measures to reduce the suffering and losses of local residents infected with the AIDS virus to the least extent.
In the early 1990s, driven by economic benefits, some people illegally collected blood plasma by starting up centers without permits in rural areas of Henan.
A group of blood products companies also followed suit. They violated operation rules to collect and purchase large volumes of blood plasma, causing the spread of the AIDS virus among paid blood donors.
Up to now, teams for the prevention and treatment of AIDS, led by local leaders, have been set up in major areas where the deadly AIDS disease has run rampant.
In Wenlou Village, a clinic, with funds allocated by the governments at central and local levels, has been established to offer medical treatment to AIDS patients or HIV carriers free of charge.
Hospitals from Shangcai County have also dispatched medical workers to be on duty around the clock at Wenlou Village.
Yin added that his ministry is also working together with local governments to draft a detailed plan for treating AIDS patients and HIV carriers, in addition to helping train local medical workers.
(Xinhua News Agency 08/08/2001)
