SINGAPORE, Dec 1 (AFP) - Growing numbers of AIDS sufferers in affluent Singapore are being left homeless and without treatment because of discrimination against them, activists said Friday.

In a plea to the government, the Action for Aids organisation sought more accessible and affordable treatment, saying direct government subsidies for AIDS and HIV sufferers in the city-state were virtually non-existent.

Sufferers can only draw up to 500 Singapore dollars (287 US dollars) a month from the state-managed medical health fund to pay for their medication.

"No actual subsidies are given to AIDS patients from the government," said Feisal Abdul Rahman, a volunteer with Action for AIDS (AFA), the city-state's only non-governmental group to help AIDS and HIV sufferers.

AFA president Dr Roy Chan called for an end to AIDS-related discrimination and said the government needed to become more involved in AIDS prevention.

"There has to be greater participation by government institutions, community-based organisations and non-governmental organisations in our battle against HIV infection," Chan said in a statement.

He told the Straits Times newspaper that because of the stigma surrounding AIDS, fewer people with HIV were coming forward for medical aid.

But the health ministry, in a statement to AFP said HIV/AIDS patients seeking medical treatment were treated the same as any other patient.

"Just like any other patient they have access to subsidised inpatient and outpatient care," the statement said.

Government figures put the official number of HIV/AIDS cases at 1,325 at the end of October, but AFA estimates put the figure nearer to 4,000.

"There are a lot out there who may not be aware that they are HIV-positve and they might be spreading the virus unknowingly," said Feisal.

In a case study of a Singapore AIDS patient, the Straits Times interviewed a 42-year-old man who was denied a bed in a welfare home and a hospice because of his disease.

He could not stay in a halfway house because he was not a drug user, and being a bankrupt with no income he was prevented from getting a public housing apartment. He slept on the floor of a shopping complex.

The community development ministry said AIDS sufferers "medically certified" as suitable for communal living could be admitted to its homes for the destitute if they did not require nursing care, the Straits Times said.

The Communicable Diseases Centre said it was seeing 10 cases of homeless people with AIDS a year, and there was already a waiting list for the 25 beds it has set aside for sufferers.

The chairman of the Dover Park Hospice, Jerry Lim, said cost was a factor against taking in AIDS sufferers as government subsidies stopped after three months.

"From a humanitarian point of view, it is correct for us to accept people with AIDS but the long term nursing cost is prohibitive.

"And other patients have a mindset against people with AIDS and might not be ready to have them with them."

In a statement issued ahead of World AIDS Day, the Singapore health ministry said: "The ministry would like to emphasise that the only way to avoid AIDS is to remain faithful to one's spouse and to avoid casual sex and sex with prostitutes."

In the statement to AFP late Friday, the ministry said: "Given that there is no cure or vaccine for AIDS, health education remains the mainstay of the HIV/AIDS programme in Singapore.

"The programme aims to educate Singaporeans on the mode of transmission, high risk activities and the precautionary measures to be taken."

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