The pilot program to treat HIV/AIDS with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) had benefited 9, 267 people, said the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Thursday.

The program was jointly initiated by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the administration in five provinces in 2004. The effort had been expanded to include another 12 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

A total of 160 million yuan ($23.4 million) had been spent, mainly on personnel training, traditional medicine, clinical investigation and management.

And treatment had been provided free of charge. A total of 5,972 people were receiving the treatment as of June and 1,570 of them had been treated for 48 months.

"Standard treatment of TCM has been proved effective in treating HIV/AIDS, " said Xu Zhiren, director of the medical department of the administration, "Like improving and stabilizing the immune function of the patients.

Xu said statistics from the clinic analysis indicated that TCM could ameliorate symptoms include fever, coughing, asthenia and diarrhea.

A total of 319,877 people in China had been registered HIV positive, including 102,323 AIDS patients and 49,845 deaths, as of October 31, according to statistics released on a national AIDS control meeting.