<p> AIDS patients would be offered an herbal cure at a 1,111-bed hospital in Gambia that the president said on Tuesday he plans to build despite medical concerns the treatment is dangerous.</p>.<p>President Yahya Jammeh said in 2007 he had found a remedy of boiled herbs to cure AIDS, stirring anger among Western medical experts who claimed he was giving false hope to the sick.</p>.<p>"With this project coming to fruition, we intend to treat 10,000 HIV/AIDS patients every six months through natural medicine," Jammeh said in his New Year's address, adding that he expected the 1,111-bed hospital to open in 2015.</p>.<p>The World Health Organisation and the United Nations have said Jammeh's HIV/AIDS treatment is alarming mainly because patients are required to cease their anti-retroviral drugs, making them more prone to infection.</p>.<p>Jammeh said in October that 68 HIV/AIDS patients undergoing his herbal remedy had been cured and discharged, the seventh batch since the treatments began five years ago.</p>.<p>Other African leaders have drawn criticism for extolling the power of natural remedies to combat AIDS.</p>.<p>The administration of former South African President Thabo Mbeki was ridiculed for denying there was a link between HIV and AIDS while prescribing meaningless treatments such as beet root instead of internationally proven medicines.</p>.<p>The HIV rate in Gambia is relatively low compared to other African states, with 2 percent of the country's roughly 1.8 million people infected, according to the United Nations.</p>.<p>Jammeh came to power in Gambia, a sliver of land on Africa's west coast that is popular with sun-seeking European tourists, in a bloodless military coup in 1994.</p>.<p>He is accused by activists of human rights abuses during his rule, and most recently drew international criticism for executing nine death-row inmates by firing squad.</p>
<p> AIDS patients would be offered an herbal cure at a 1,111-bed hospital in Gambia that the president said on Tuesday he plans to build despite medical concerns the treatment is dangerous.</p>.<p>President Yahya Jammeh said in 2007 he had found a remedy of boiled herbs to cure AIDS, stirring anger among Western medical experts who claimed he was giving false hope to the sick.</p>.<p>"With this project coming to fruition, we intend to treat 10,000 HIV/AIDS patients every six months through natural medicine," Jammeh said in his New Year's address, adding that he expected the 1,111-bed hospital to open in 2015.</p>.<p>The World Health Organisation and the United Nations have said Jammeh's HIV/AIDS treatment is alarming mainly because patients are required to cease their anti-retroviral drugs, making them more prone to infection.</p>.<p>Jammeh said in October that 68 HIV/AIDS patients undergoing his herbal remedy had been cured and discharged, the seventh batch since the treatments began five years ago.</p>.<p>Other African leaders have drawn criticism for extolling the power of natural remedies to combat AIDS.</p>.<p>The administration of former South African President Thabo Mbeki was ridiculed for denying there was a link between HIV and AIDS while prescribing meaningless treatments such as beet root instead of internationally proven medicines.</p>.<p>The HIV rate in Gambia is relatively low compared to other African states, with 2 percent of the country's roughly 1.8 million people infected, according to the United Nations.</p>.<p>Jammeh came to power in Gambia, a sliver of land on Africa's west coast that is popular with sun-seeking European tourists, in a bloodless military coup in 1994.</p>.<p>He is accused by activists of human rights abuses during his rule, and most recently drew international criticism for executing nine death-row inmates by firing squad.</p>