Patients infected with the A/H1N1 virus will soon stop getting free treatment from the Chinese government.

"We are going to charge the patient for treatment because we don't know how long the pandemic will last in China and we want the prevention and control work to be sustainable," said Liang Wannian, deputy director of the emergency response office under the Ministry of Health (MOH), at a press conference.

Currently, all confirmed patients are hospitalized for free and everyone suspected of having the virus must be quarantined at designated establishments for seven days, putting a strain on the government's economic and human resources over the long run, Liang said.

A final decision on how to implement the new policy has not yet been made, he added.

Five billion yuan (US$731.6 million) was earmarked in May for the battle against A/H1N1.

The new approach comes as China is set to relax its quarantine policies for the A/H1N1 flu, based on the increased understanding that the virus is no more fatal than the seasonal flu and can be cured.

"That doesn't mean we'll let go of the oversight and management of suspected cases as the virus is still spreading across the country," Liang said.

"People will actually be quarantined in their own homes instead of the current designated places," Liang said. "The new measure will be more cost-effective and sustainable."

Guangdong Province has been pioneering the use of home treatment, reports said.

Among the tens of thousands of people quarantined so far, most have been cleared of the infection, said Deng Haihua, director of the MOH press office. He didn't disclose an exact figure.

The MOH is now busy devising specific plans to implement the home quarantine.

"All stakeholders including the suspected patients, their family members and local health departments will be responsible for it together," he said.

He didn't disclose when the plan would take effect but said it would be soon.

Other measures including border checks against the A/H1N1 flu will remain in place despite the fact that the number of new locally-infected cases in China is soon expected to exceed those of imported ones, Liang added.

From April 25 to July 5, a total of 8,272 people entering China with flu-like symptoms were transferred to medical institutions for quarantine. Some 228 of them were confirmed as A/H1N1 flu patients.

China has seen several outbreaks in schools in Guangdong province and Beijing. As of Monday, a total of 1,040 confirmed cases have been reported with no deaths on the Chinese mainland, according to MOH.

In another development, the Beijing Administration Bureau of traditional Chinese medicine confirmed that the Beijing municipal government has allocated 10 million yuan to support the use of traditional Chinese medicine in treating the A/H1N1 flu.

Of the 10 million yuan, four million would be spent on clinical tests and the rest on lab research to find or develop proper traditional Chinese medicine for the disease, Beijing News reported.

(China Daily July 7, 2009)