CALCUTTA, Oct 27 (AFP) - The body of an AIDS sufferer who committed suicide has been lying in the morgue of a hospital in eastern India for 45 days because undertakers refuse to take it for cremation, doctors said Friday.

AIDS patient Sambhu Thapa, 45, killed himself on September 12 at his home in the town of Midnapore in West Bengal state.

Police took his body to the Midnapore Sadar Hospital for a post mortem.

But the "doms" -- low-caste Hindus who take bodies for cremation -- have since refused to remove the corpse, after learning that Thapa had been suffering from AIDS.

"Some of the doms have even threatened to stop work unless the body is removed immediately," hospital superintendent N.K. Marik told AFP.

"I have informed the state health ministry of the situation," Marik said.

India accounts for 60 percent of HIV cases in Asia and 20 percent of the world's HIV infections.

But AIDS awareness is still extremely limited and sufferers are more often than not ostracised by their families and local communities.

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