Unsafe blood transfusion, use of unsatisfied equipment and other malpractices by quack doctors are rampant, which are the cause behind these cases.
It's not 10 or 20 but 519 HIV positive cases tested in Sindh province of Pakistan. What is bizarre is that most of them are children. Health officials said that more than 500 cases were tested positive in the last two weeks. Unsafe blood transfusion, use of unsatisfied equipment and other malpractices by quack doctors are rampant, which are the cause behind these cases.
According to a report by the United Nations, in Asia, Pakistan now has the second highest number of HIV cases, and the number of cases is growing rapidly with 20,000 new cases reported in Pakistan in 2017.
Recently, 39 new cases of HIV were detected during a test drive in Larkana district, which took the toll to over 500 in the last 17 days, health officials said.
The Minister of health for Sindh, Dr Azra Pechuho, said, more blood screening camps are being set to speed up the process of finding HIV cases.
Twenty-three fresh cases of children being HIV positive and five women have been tested positive in the ongoing test drive in Ratodero town. The highest number of cases have been found here in the recent drive. The health authority has already pressed the panic button, as last month, 39 new cases found including dozens of children.
The inquiry found that most of the infected children used to visit a local paediatrician named Dr Muzaffar Ghangar, who himself is an HIV patient. He has been accused of intentionally infecting more than 50 patients, mostly children by repeated use of a contaminated syringe. He has been arrested and is in police custody.
The global organisation UNAIDS, in its report, has shown that over 600,000 quack doctors are operating across Pakistan out of which 270,000 are working in the Sindh Province.
Health secretary of Sindh, Dr Saeed Ahmed Awan said the majority of the cases are among children and the reason is the malpractice at the hands of quack doctors across the country.
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.