AIDS patients arrested for traveling to Beijing

In Central China’s Henan Province, 19 AIDS patients were arrested for planning to appeal in Beijing recently.

Police from Shangqiu City apprehended them on their way to Beijing. They are currently in the Shangqui Pingtai Prison. According to a report from the overseas Chinese website Buxun.com, these patients planned to appeal to the Ministry of Public Health in Beijing during the Olympics.

Tainted Blood Supplies

They are petitioning the government to improve the care of AIDS patients and HIV infected persons. They are also demanding compensation for those who were infected because of the local Department of Health’s poor procedures for transfusions and contaminated needles.

A local resident confirmed to the Radio Free Asia that these 19 HIV patients were abducted on August 15. “In the evening of August 14, he was abducted. He asked me to apply for help. We planned to meet with his wife at 8 a.m. on August 14 to learn further details, but were not able to find her. We kept on calling her on the phone until after 10 p.m., but were unable to reach her."

The resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, indicated that according to unofficial statistics, Henan Province has several million HIV infections. The current treatment relies on first line drugs.

Poor Care and Drug Resistance

“We have used this drug since 2003 and drug resistance will appear after taking it for more than five years. Currently, 10 to 20 percent of the patients have signs of drug resistance; the drug is losing its effectiveness. What we urgently need is the second line of medicine.”

According to the Boxun article, the Chinese government’s funding for an AIDS hospital in Henan was mostly appropriated by the local government for business purposes. The AIDS patients are placed in typical hospital wards, where many patients attempt suicide because of the acute pain.

A Great Tide of Appellants Expected

Because of the Olympics, every level of government puts pressure on its subordinate governments requiring the local authorities to closely monitor these patients.

According to one patient, “Some officials followed me when I walked out of our county. All government levels are very sensitive about appellants because any county or city has appellants, and the upper level will take measures against the lower level officials. That is why all government levels are tightly guarding against it.”

The local resident also revealed that many municipalities have diverted the central government’s AIDs funds away from the patients, and do not provide the second line AIDS drugs. Patients and their families are extremely discontented. He said that there are very tight controls to prevent people from appealing right now. Once the Olympics is over, there will be a great tide of appeals in Henan.