"When I first went to the clinic in Xiangfan, central China's Hubei Province, medical staff would fully 'arm' themselves with protective clothes, gloves and masks before dealing with patients, but such a scene did not appear anymore at the time when I left."

Arthur Pang, who has just finished his six-month medical service in Xiangfan, told Xinhua that he was gratified to see the change in attitude of the staff there towards Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients in such a short period of time.

The Xiangfan Center for Disease Control opened a free clinic in Xiangfan city in May 2003. Pang was one of the voluntary doctors serving there.

Treating AIDS patients was one of the main duties of Pang there where he also helped teach the local staff about scientific and systematic knowledge of AIDS.

"I was impressed by the staff's enthusiasm in learning new things, they are active and they asked many questions.

"They have eventually overcome the psychological hindrance and they now treat AIDS sufferers as ordinary patients," Pang said, adding that he deeply felt the power of knowledge which can break the gap between AIDS patients and the outside world.

While in the Xiangfan clinic, there was a group of energetic staff assisting Pang to deal with the clinical duties. Gao Fei wasa local interpreter working in the clinic. At the beginning, Gao was afraid of dealing with AIDS patients, but as she understood more about the disease, she showed her initiative to care for and listen to AIDS patients.

Acceptance and concern given by others are great encouragement towards AIDS patients. Within the half year's serving, Pang witnessed that a relationship with understanding, trust and support has been built between the clinical staff and the patients.

Of the 150 patients now being followed up at the clinic, 10 are children aged from a few months old to 10. The clinic once arranged all children consult the doctor at the same day, in order to let the parents and guardians share with each other their experiences and the difficulties they faced when dealing with the sick children.

"We have also employed AIDS patients who were of good health and psychological conditions as counselors to help comfort and give encouragement to other AIDS sufferers. In most of the times, love and concern shared between patients is an even more effective remedy than doctors' treatment," Pang said.

According to Pang, it is never easy to start an AIDS campaign, due to people's lack of understanding towards the disease.

Pang expressed the hope that more voluntary workers would help the education and promotion work on this issue to remove the fear and misunderstanding of AIDS so that the sufferers of the disease can lead a better life in the society.

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2004)