release of AIDS death figures.

Instead it is issuing them bi-annually, with a promise of a quarterly release next year.

Yesterday Health and Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness vowed to investigate the change.

"I will definitely look into this. I want the public to know as much as possible about AIDS,'' he said.

Mr. Edness, seemingly taken aback, said he was completely unaware of the change.

Mrs. Hilary Soares, co-ordinator of Agape House, which cares for terminally ill patients, said she had not received figures for "quite some time''.

"It doesn't matter particularly to me, but there are those for whom it's perhaps more important, such as district nurses.'' Government's Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann yesterday appeared to downplay the importance of the change in procedure.

He said it was considered recently that the figures would be put into context if presented with an epidemiologist's report.

"In the past people sometimes misinterpreted the figures by themselves,'' he added.

Dr. Cann said the Health and Social Services department was currently understaffed, and there were difficulties in producing a frequent report.

"There has been no policy change. The bottom line is we try to produce statistics and a report as regularly as possible, at least every quarter or three months.

"Unfortunately we are very short-staffed at present.'' Dr. Cann said he was currently wearing three hats -- those of Chief Medical Officer, Senior Medical Officer, and Acting Parliamentary Secretary to Mr.

Edness.

Information Services spokeswoman Mrs. Tina Evans Caines said figures had been released for January-June this year, and would be followed by those for July-December.

She said the change stemmed from a health department luncheon meeting with the media at the Hamilton Princess hotel earlier this year.

Mrs. Caines said some members of the media had suggested a report to explain the figures.

"Next year we hope to produce them on a quarterly basis.'' Mrs. Caines said the new procedure would cure the problem of figures being "blown out of proportion''.

Figures by themselves were "cold'', and could be misinterpreted, she added.

Mrs. Caines stressed, however, the media was still able to obtain monthly figures -- if a specific request was made.

The Royal Gazette yesterday asked for AIDS death figures for January-October, and a comparison with the same period last year, but none were available before going to press.