HIV carriers and AIDS patients in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday started receiving cards which are designated to help them access free medical care more easily, local newspaper Youth reported.

Under a decision of the municipal People's Committee, the cardholders are to receive free medical care at 28 healthcare establishments in the city without being tested for HIV again.

They will also get free consultations about psychology, and disease prevention and treatment.

Ho Chi Minh City now houses 40,000-50,000 people having HIV/AIDS, of whom 5,000-10,000 need medical care.

Vietnam is estimated to currently have some 241,000 HIV carriers, most of them are men. Many local men contract the disease after having sex with infected prostitutes. The country now has file records on 13,000 prostitutes.

Vietnam has targeted to reduce the HIV/AIDS infection rate among its 82-million population to below 0.3 percent by 2010, and keep it unchanged after 2020.

Source: Xinhua