BEIJING, Nov 14 (AFP) - Chinese peasants infected with AIDS who travelled to Beijing for a national conference on the epidemic are confined to hospital and will not be released until it is over, a source close to them said Wednesday.
The seven villagers, who also came to the capital seeking treatment for the illness, have been told they must wait for blood tests to determine whether they can undergo an experimental AIDS treatment using Chinese medicines.
They have also been denied access to telephones at the Ditan hospital, the source told AFP.
China's first-ever national conference on its rapidly growing AIDS crisis opened in Beijing on Tuesday, gathering experts and officials from around the country.
The patients, all from the AIDS-ravaged central province of Henan, had expected the results of blood tests on Wednesday.
But the source said there had been a delay.
"They will have to wait until Friday, the last day of the conference, to get the result of blood tests to see whether they take the experimental treatment at home," he said.
Although the hospital said the wait was caused by a broken piece of equipment, the source said he suspected they were being deliberately impeded from trying to attend the government-organised conference.
Nine peasants, including those at Ditan hospital, have also written to Chinese Vice Minister for Health Yin Dagui to demand an inquiry into the spread of AIDS in Henan, the Beijing Daily Star newspaper reported Wednesday.
The letter said an investigation should begin into AIDS infection through commercial blood collections in the province during the first half of the 1990s, and for legal action to be taken against those responsible.
Much of Henan's AIDS crisis is thought to have been caused by roaming blood collectors who paid money to peasants, many of whom sold blood several times despite the grossly insanitary methods used.
According to independent doctors, more than a million people are HIV positive in Henan alone.
The patients at Ditan hospital say more than half the 600 people in their village, Dongguan, carry the virus.
This week's AIDS conference is being seen as a sign Chinese authorities are finally facing up to the problem.
However the country has downplayed the effect of the blood sales, and has gone to great efforts to prevent Henan villagers from drawing attention to their plight.
Inhabitants of stricken villages say officials have warned them not to travel to Beijing or speak to the media.
At Tuesday's opening of the conference, Dai Zhicheng, an official from China's centre for infectious diseases, said only "30,000 to 50,000 people, and certainly not more than 100,000" had contracted HIV through selling their blood.
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