people with advanced cases of AIDS could be made available in Bermuda, Government's Chief Medical Officer said yesterday.

"I am aware of the drug and the normal procedure is that any drug approved in its country of origin, usually the UK, US or Canada, for sale would normally be allowed here,'' he said. "Government will not be paying for it.'' According to the Los Angeles Times, preliminary test results of the drug, rifabutin, have proven so positive that the US Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for AIDS patients with severely impaired immune systems to receive it.

Rifabutin has been found to be effective in delaying or blocking the onset of a blood infection called Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). MAC bacteria are related to the tuberculosis germ and cause severe illness in people with advanced AIDS.

A study of about 590 AIDS patients that began in February, 1990, found rifabutin nearly halved the rate at which patients developed the MAC infection.

Dr. Cann said that he had not read up enough on the drug to make any comment on its medical capabilities.