Vice Premier Li Keqiang has instructed the Ministry of Health (MOH) to guarantee the right to medical treatment of people living with HIV, according to a notice posted on the ministry's official website late on Wednesday night.

Li also instructed the MOH by phone that people with HIV should not be discriminated against, stressing that work should be done to guarantee the safety of doctors and nurses treating HIV-positive people, according to the notice.

It added that Li made the phone call immediately after learning from the media that a lung cancer patient who is also HIV positive was denied proper treatment and ended up falsifying his medical record in order to obtain surgery.

It was recently reported that 25-year-old Tianjin patient Xiao Feng was denied medical treatment after his HIV-positive status was detected but eventually got the due surgery after concealing his condition.