Islamabad, April 20 (IANS) Pakistan has learned little even after 10 years and roughly 10 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) outbreaks later. As many as 331 children tested positive for HIV in Pakistan’s Taunsa between November 2024-October 2025, a report has stated.
These cases in Taunsa have been reported despite government claiming to have launched a crackdown on the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, where the medical superintendent was removed and replaced. However, the undercover footage by the British broadcaster BBC has showcased that nothing has changed in the hospital as syringes were being reused on several children, injections administered through clothing, a nurse rummaging through medical waste without gloves. Furthermore, parents confirmed that syringes were reused on their children in hospital. A “contaminated needle” was identified as the mode of transmission in more than half of these cases, according to a report in Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn.
As HIV is no longer confined to certain high-risk groups, former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) voiced concern. In the post on X, he stated, “What BBC film has revealed in Tunsa THQ is a tip of the iceberg. Same practices are rampant in all districts of the country. All blood borne diseases as a result are on the rise in Pakistan due to absolutely irresponsible health care practices including, reuse of disposable syringes by health care workers and drug addicts; unscreened blood transfusions; unprotected sex; unhygienic use of shaving instruments and so on. We have the largest population with Hepatitis C infection in the world i.e. around 10 million.”
The revelation will unfold a familiar cycle – outrage will flare and the finger pointing will start, followed by probe, according to a report in Dawn. Media will start reporting about it and the government will make some efforts and before long, it will all fade from the memory until the matter again comes to light following a new outbreak.
This pattern has been witnessed in four outbreaks – over 1,000 cases were reported in Larkana in 2019, with up to 90 per cent of the cases being children; Jacobabad and Shikarpur became hotspots in 2023; Taunsa, Mirpurkhas emerged as “another Larkana” after 150 children tested positive while Dera Ghazi Khan witnessed rise in HIV cases linked to unsafe sexual practices and the reuse of syringes by unqualified practitioners in 2024. Similarly, HIV cases were also reported in Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Naushahro Feroze and Karachi.
“Yet these criminal practices have failed to provoke the outrage they deserve from the public, health practitioners and even governments. Nobody seems to know who to hold accountable, otherwise, why would these outbreaks continue so frequently? And in the Taunsa hospital’s case, in particular, it is clear that the irresponsible behaviour never stopped despite a change in leadership,” Zofeen T. Ebrahim, an independent journalist based in Karachi, wrote in a report in Dawn.
“Along with implementation gas, the lack of public awareness remains a stumbling block. Patients, especially in public hospitals, are not only poor, but often poorly informed. They have little reason to suspect that a routine injection could leave them or their child with a lifelong infection,” she added.
–IANS
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