Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients, as well as patients with specific infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, may soon get more support from the government, including free medical treatment, officials said yesterday.

The Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, which now is under revision, is expected to guarantee free medical treatment for groups with specific infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and SARS, said Qi Xiaoqiu.

Qi, the director of the Diseases Control Department of the Ministry of Health, made the remarks at an international forum on SARS control and prevention which concluded yesterday in Beijing. The forum was jointly held by the Ministry of Health and Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In fact, China already started treating SARS patients free of charge during the deadly epidemic earlier this year. In September, the government promised to provide free anti-virus medicines for HIV/AIDS patients who are stricken by poverty.

However, such free-aid action needs a clear legislative structure to ensure it can be strictly carried out, Qi said.

The law which is now being revised became effective in 1989. It will be submitted to the National People Congress, China's top legislature, for approval before March 2004.

The Ministry of Health estimates that China has 840,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers including 80,000 AIDS patients. To date, a total of 5,000 AIDS patients have received free medicine from the government.

Meanwhile, all the 5,327 SARS patients in China, including 4,959 who recovered, got free medical treatment.

However, new medical problems have come to many people who recovered from SARS several months ago.

They are reportedly suffering from serious bone-related problems, especially in the hips, which could in some cases lead to paralysis.

At the same time, the incidence of corticosteroid-related avascular necrosis -- blood infections connected to steroid production -- in the hips of medical staff who fell ill and later recovered from SARS, ranges between 33 and 50 per cent, a local newspaper reported.

Han Demin, deputy director of the Beijing Health Bureau, said at the forum that Beijing is taking medical staff infected by SARS through complete health checkups to determine any side effects caused by the virus.

Hospitals have also started follow-up investigations among SARS sufferers they have treated looking for symptoms of necrosis, lung fibrosis and liver damages.

Avascular necrosis is a known side effect of strong dosages of corticosteroids, said Dr Julie Hall, leader of the World Health Organization SARS Response Team in China.

However, dosages of corticosteroids, used to save patients' lives, are not the only cause of necrosis and it is unclear what caused the side-effect among SARS sufferers.

The necrosis can be caused by both the virus and the corticosteroids, Han said.

In another development, three kinds of SARS vaccines will be ready for clinical trials after going through an expert evaluation, said China's Food and Drug authority.

Yin Hongzhang, biology products section director of the Medicine Register Department of the State Food and Drug Administration, said yesterday at the forum that the developers had announced their achievements to the agency and were preparing detailed information for inspection.

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