MAC In Talks With Insurance Companies On HIV/AIDS Medical Expenses Coverage

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) is in talks with insurance companies, to insure HIV/AIDS medical expenses.

"The MAC spends RM30 million annually on the antiretroviral therapy (ART) tablet, a drug to suppress the HIV/AIDS virus," MAC president Tan Sri Mohd Zaman Khan Rahim Khan told a press conference at the Business Forum on HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention here today.

He also said the government had taken the lead in preventing the disease from spreading by financing the MAC to almost 100 per cent, with government grants received last year totaling up to RM10 million.

"The corporate sector must also keep on hiring HIV positive individuals, for them to afford the treatment, while educating their employees on the disease," he added.

The half-day forum was a joint effort between the Malaysian AIDS Foundation and the MAC. It was supported by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Kuala Lumpur.

Held in conjunction with World AIDS Day 2011, the forum highlighted innovative prevention and education programmes run by businesses to address the HIV/AIDS crisis, and new strategies for the future.

- -BERNAMA

Source : http://finance.bernama.com/news.php?id=633499