Thailand bows to Aids patients demands

The government in Thailand has bowed to demands from AIDS patients to include them in subsidised medical care.

The health minister, Sudarat Keyuraphan, announced the decision as around one-thousand people with AIDS, staged a protest outside the government headquarters.

But she said it would only cover about seven-thousand patients initially. She told the BBC that a meeting would be held with Aids groups next week to decide who would benefit from the scheme. Activists say they want the government to provide cheap anti-viral drugs within three years to all who need them.

The Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinwatra, had been elected on a programme that slashed hospital consultation fees to under one-dollar a visit, but AIDS patients were excluded from the scheme.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service