BEIJING, July 15 (AFP) - China has begun providing free AIDS drugs to thousands of farmers who contracted the HIV virus after selling blood but the drugs are dated and there are not enough doctors to administer them, experts said Tuesday.
The lack of suitable doctors is partly responsible for many patients dropping out of the program because they cannot handle the side effects, including vomitting and diarrhoea.
"We have enough drugs but we don't have enough doctors who can administer the drugs," said Zhang Fujie, head of the program run by China's Center for Disease Control.
"Even in the biggest cities in China, there are only a few hospitals with doctors who can administer AIDS drugs," said Zhang, who estimated China had fewer than 100 such experts.
The program, which began three months ago, is being carried out as China faces growing criticism for its tough tactics against rural AIDS sufferers demanding government help.
In one incident that raised concern, police indiscriminately beat and arrested 13 people from Xiongqiao village in central Henan province during a night raid.
Experts estimate as many as one million farmers contracted HIV/AIDS from government-approved blood-collection stations in this area.
The free-drugs program highlights the two-pronged approach different levels of government in China seem to be taking, experts said.
Unable to afford the latest AIDS cocktail treatment drugs from international pharmaceutical companies, China earlier this year began manufacturing four types of drugs whose patents have expired, Zhang said.
The government is now giving the drugs -- AZT, DDI, D4T and MVT -- along with two imported drugs -- Stocrin and Combivir -- to patients in the provinces of Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui and Sichuan.
Some 2,550 people in Henan's Shangcai county started getting the drugs in early April, while around 200 have been given them in Xincai county and 120 in Queshan county, Zhang said.
China has said 23 of its 31 provinces have farmers who became infected with HIV from selling blood, but has never revealed the precise numbers.
In an indication of the extent of the problem, which China kept quiet about until December 2001, Zhang said several hundred more people are being treated in the other provinces and the program is expected to expand.
In Anhui province, 200 people are being treated, in Hubei province 420 people, in Sichuan 61 and a program was just launched in Hunan.
A US-based AIDS worker said many people, however, were stopping treatment because the drugs China is able to provide cause strong side effects.
"They're using older versions of drugs that can make up a cocktail treatment and specifically the ones where the patents have expired," said the worker.
"But they're not as effective and they have side effects. The side effects are so serious that a lot of people are dropping out."
In Henan's Shangcai county alone, 327 people have quit the program, Zhang admitted.
But he argued that the drugs were still effective and used around the world.
"Domestically made medicine is not the best, but we're talking about how to help the largest number of people under scarce resources," he said.
"It's not a matter of which is best. If one has the money, one can buy the best. But since the government is buying, not everyone should expect a BMW."
A bigger problem is the lack of qualified doctors, who are needed to help patients stay on the lifelong treatment, he said.
China is applying for a grant from the UN-sponsored Global Fund, which it wants to use to help train doctors.
But Zhang and international workers helping China obtain more funding said incidents such as the night raid may hurt the chances of getting assistance.
Without knowing the specifics of what happened, Zhang said he could not comment on whether Beijing was aware of the raid or approved it.
Chinese ministries failed to respond to questions sent by AFP about the incident.
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