Representational
In Pakistan's Sindh province, as many as 519 people have been tested HIV-positive in the last two weeks. Most of them are children.
Health officials have attributed the cause to the use of unsanitary equipment, unsafe blood transfusion and rampant malpractice -- often at the hands of quack doctors.
Here’s what we know so far:
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In Asia, according to a UN report, Pakistan now has the second-fastest growing rate of HIV.
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In 2017 alone, Pakistan witnessed about 20,000 new infections.
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On Wednesday, 39 cases of HIV were detected during screening of people in Larkana district. As many as 23 children and five women have tested HIV-positive in the latest screenings carried out in Ratodero town, where the highest number of such cases have been detected in the district.
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According to an inquiry by the health authorities, most of the infected children had visited a private clinic of a local paediatrician named Dr Muzaffar Ghangar in Ratodero for other ailments.
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Dr Muzaffar Ghangar himself is an AIDS patient.
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He is accused of infecting more than 50 patients, mostly children, by repeated use of a single contaminated syringe.
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The doctor has been arrested and is currently under police custody.
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Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho said more blood screening camps are being set up in the district to speed up the process of detecting HIV positive cases.
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Sindh health secretary Dr Saeed Ahmed Awan said the majority of those tested HIV positive were children and the reason for this was apparently a surge in infection rates across the country due to the use of unsanitary equipment, unsafe blood transfusion and rampant malpractice — often at the hands of quack doctors.
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Nearly 600,000 quack doctors are operating across Pakistan and around 270,000 are practicing in the Sindh province, said a report of UNAIDS.
(With PTI inputs)
