The state budget has rejected the state health department’s proposal for $20 million to help low-income HIV patients. The proposal was offered so that low-income HIV patients can obtain free drugs for their treatment. However, budget negotiators said that the state will not limit the accessibility of free drugs to about 16,000 people with HIV/AIDS.

According to a study released on Tuesday by the United Nations' International Labour Organization (ILO), it was disclosed that people with the condition in China have to face medical discrimination if they need medicine for any other disease. On the other hand, hospitals that help treating HIV patients are not capable enough to treat every disease.

HIV patients are often denied treatment in mainstream hospitals and transfer them to designated infectious disease hospitals. Discrimination prevents these patients from getting proper treatments. Health providers deny them for procedures such as hemorrhoids and cleaning and stitching of wounds.

The Director of the ILO Office for China and Mongolia, Ann Herbert, lamented, “Stigma and discrimination in the healthcare system largely stemming from low awareness is potentially more deadly than AIDS itself”.

The study was concluded after interviewing 103 people and about 23 workers from five provinces.