BEIJING, Dec 2 (AFP) - Four men stricken with the HIV/AIDS virus after selling their blood to blood banks were arrested in central China for disturbing public order when they demanded medication at a local hospital.
Chen Yanjing and three other men afflicted with HIV were arrested by Shangcai county police at the Zhumadian health bureau in central Henan province on November 22, Chen said.
"We were trying to get medicine, but they told us we would have to wait..., then the police came," Chen told AFP by telephone.
Chen was released after several days in detention when his father and wife complained to Shangcai police, but the other three are still in police custody for disturbing public order, he said.
The four were from Wenlou village, a village devastated by AIDS after locals sold their blood to unscrupulous and unsanitary blood banks for years.
At least 100,000 people in Henan have become HIV positive after donating blood, officials said, but independent Chinese doctors estimate the numbers are much higher.
Most of the cases occurred in small villages like Wenlou where knowledge of the disease is scant and medication scarce or non-existent.
An official at the Shangcai Detention Center confirmed that the men had been detained.
"They are AIDS carriers and have made a lot of trouble at the health center," an official at the detention center said without identifying himself.
Official estimates are that up to 600,000 Chinese carry HIV/AIDS, but due to administrative reluctance to confront the issue, only about 10,000 cases have been actually documented.
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