Harbor for HIV/AIDS carriers built in Shanxi

A hospital in North China's Shanxi Province had set up a spa for HIV/AIDS sufferers where they could receive treatment and make a living, Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.

Some 20 patients had been treated at the 90-mu (6-hectare) compound of hospital wards, entertainment venues and farmland since it opened on July 24 last year.

The Linfen City Infectious Disease Hospital last year rented the land from Licun Village, some 10 kilometers from the hospital, with 1.5 million yuan (US$182,926). Hospital staff called it "Green Harbor," in the hope that it could offer not only physical treatment but also psychological comfort for HIV/AIDS sufferers and their families.

The area is divided into three zones: treatment zone, logistics zone and work zone.

Patients and their families can grow grain, vegetables and flowers in the 70-mu work zone, and then sell the farm produce to make some money.

The area also has an entertainment venue, a library and a gym.

There are 840,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers in China. While the Chinese people's knowledge of HIV/AIDS was improving greatly, there was still wide-spread fear and bias toward the disease.

As a result, many HIV/AIDS suffers can't work like normal people although their symptoms had not fully developed.

Source: Xinhua/Agencies