Sixty per cent of HIV patients are missing out on a drug therapy which could allow them to lead relatively normal lives, support groups say.
They fear the high cost of the drugs is deterring the Government from providing the 'cocktail' treatment.
Only 15 per cent of HIV/ AIDS sufferers receive the drugs, but another 60 per cent fit the criteria, the groups say.
There are 907 people with HIV and 290 with AIDS in the SAR. The latest quarterly figures will be released today.
Government figures revised last year showed only 15 per cent of patients were receiving the drugs, compared with 30 to 50 per cent previously, AIDS Advocacy Alliance member Loretta Wong Wai-kwan said.
'We think they don't want to give us the exact number. But we think there should be at least three-quarters entitled to it,' based on the characteristics of HIV/AIDS patients in Hong Kong, she said.
'There's a hidden agenda . . . the budget itself,' she said.
