A patient needs to pay around 2,000 to 3,000 yuan (240 to 361 U.S. dollars) per month and the average monthly expenditure was over10,000 yuan (1,204 US dollars) before the price cuts, said a doctor in Beijing-based You'an Hospital, who preferred to be namedas Wu only.

　　Earlier this month, the State Development Planning Commission (SDPC) decided to cut the prices of three AIDS prevention drugs imported from the United States and Australia. The commission is authorized by the State Council to regulate pricing.

　　China imports more than a dozen kinds of AIDS drugs from other countries.

　　Apart from price cuts, Wu, who works in one of the best hospitals in the country for AIDS treatment, called for the makingof AIDS prevention drugs in China as soon as possible, so as to really lessen the burden of patients.

　　He also noted that the World Trade Organization (WTO) allows its members to make AIDS prevention medicines by copying other countries' production during the transitional period, though the drugs are still under the protection of Intellectual Property rights.

　　He cited Brazil and India as examples, where the average AIDS patient's medical expenditure is about 50 U.S. dollars per month, for the two countries produce their own AIDS drugs under the protection of WTO rules.

　　Chinese medical experts estimate that about 600,000 people in the country were infected with the fatal illness by the end of 2001, an increase of 60 to 70 percent annually over the last few years, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.