Bangkok  - Government officials accounted for 3 per cent of HIV/AIDS patients to receive treatment in Thailand over the past 24 years, health officials revealed Sunday.

Public Health spokesman Suphan Srithamma said that since HIV/AIDS was first detected in the country in 1984, there were 337,989 accumulated patients at government hospitals of whom 92,111 had died, reported the Bangkok Post online news service.

He added that of the patients who received treatment for HIV/AIDS symptoms, some 10,728 were government officials, of whom 9,043 were men and 61 per cent were married.

According to a Public Health Ministry report on the 24-year history of HIV/AIDS in Thailand, the virus has infected up to 1.2 million people over the years, with the ratio of male to female victims close to two to one.

It is believed that more than half of the infected population have died although they may not have been diagnosed for HIV/AIDS or failed to receive treatment. dpa