The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to distribute anti-retroviral drugs freely to HIV/AIDS patients from four designated centres in the state from April 1, under a central government programme. The government has decided on free supply as a policy as prices have come down drastically, according to the state Health Minister, Kodela Sivaprasada Rao.

The four centres are Osmania, Andhra, Guntur and Tirupati medical colleges. The AP government is also contemplating opening another centre at Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences at Hyderabad.

The state has an estimated 4.5 lakh HIV/AIDS patients out of a total of 45 lakh patients in the country. The prevalence of AIDS has come down from about 2 per cent to 1.06 per cent due to combined efforts of officials, doctors, politicians and voluntary organisations.

AP is among the six states selected for the programme. Under stage II of the programme, the anti-retroviral drugs would be made available free of cost at all other medical college hospitals from October 2 and under stage III, to be implemented from December 1, at all district headquarter hospitals in the state.