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t least 15 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in Jember regency have missed follow-up treatment for various reasons, an official at the VCT Clinic of the RSUD Dr. Soebandi hospital said.

Clinic head Justina Evy Tyaswaty said the majority of patients abandoning the treatment were people with high mobility such as sex workers and public transportation drivers.

"Other factors include the fact that many of the patients are from outside Jember," she said.

She said 65 out of the clinic's 227 HIV/AIDS patients were from outside Jember.

"Some came from outside the East Java province, making it difficult for us to monitor them once they stop receiving medical treatment."

The clinic's case manager Vellyan said the clinic had tried its best to minimize the number of patients missing the follow-up treatments by intensively monitoring those who were receiving the antiretroviral therapy (ART) and taking the ARV medicines.

Vellyan said she routinely visited those patients and provided modal support to discourage them from stopping treatment.

"Unfortunately, many have given us fake addresses, making it difficult us to monitor them."

The first HIV/AIDS sufferer in Jember was diagnosed in 1977, the second in 2004 and the number increased significantly as the VCT clinic was established in the regency.

"In 2006 we only found four cases of HIV/AIDS. The figure increased into 74 the following year and 114 in 2008," she said.

As of the first week of Oct., 120 new cases have been found in Jember.

The total number of HIV/AIDS patients in the three VCT clinics in the region is 318, 227 of of whom are being treated at RSUD dr. Soebandi.