Pakistani doctor who reused syringes busted after 900 children contracted HIV

[Abdullah719]

Dubai: Panic gripped Larkana – a key city of Pakistan’s Sindh province – after 13 children were tested positive for human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV).

According to the HIV Aids Control Programme official, sixteen of the 13 children tested are infected with HIV in the Ratodero district of Larkana. Blood samples of 16 children have been sent to a laboratory for further tests.

“The children who are tested HIV positive are between the ages of four months and eight years,” Dr Abdul Hafeez, In Charge of the HIV Aids Control Programme in the area.

He said that parents of the affected children would also be tested.

Larkana continues to top the list of districts most affected by HIV in Sindh with the number of AIDS patients in Larkana rising to more than 2,500, reported Geo TV.

Larkana is the stronghold of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) which has been in government in Sindh province for decades. But the city has one of the worst healthcare facilities.

The results are very worrisome, Dr Hafeez said, urging the need for take drastic steps to create awareness about HIV amongst the population in the area.


20,000 new HIV cases

According to WHO, Pakistan is registering approximately 20,000 new HIV infections annually, the highest rate of increase among all countries in the region.

The international body says mortality among Pakistanis living with the virus, which causes the deadly AIDS disease, is also rising, in spite of the availability of lifesaving antiretroviral therapy.

The latest government figures show that only 16 percent of the estimated 150,000 people living with HIV had been tested and only 9 percent have access to lifesaving treatment.

"The remaining 135,000 people are walking around in the communities as carriers of (HIV) infection who are ready to transmit infections to those who are not infected, even to their unborn babies," Dr. Saima Paracha of the National AIDS Control Program, told media recently.


Main causes of HIV in Pakistan

Officials say the HIV epidemic in Pakistan remains largely concentrated among the key populations, including people who inject drugs, the transgender community, sex workers and their clients and men who have sex with men.

Official estimates show that Pakistan has seen a 45 percent increase in new HIV infections since 2010

The report said AIDS-related deaths in the world have fallen from 1.9 million in 2005 to one million in 2016, adding that "for the first time the scales have tipped."

The year 2016 saw 1.8 million new infections, almost half the record number of some 3.5 million in 1997, said UNAIDS.

In total, 76.1 million people have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, since the epidemic started in the 1980s. Some 35 million have died.


No cure

As of yet, there is no HIV vaccine or cure, and infected people rely on lifelong anti-retroviral therapy to stop the virus replicating.

Without treatment, HIV-infected people go on to develop AIDS, a syndrome that weakens the immune system and leaves the body exposed to opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis, and some types of cancer.

Treatment carries side effects and is costly, but allows infected people to be healthier for longer.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pak...-children-tested-hiv-positive-1.1556178484693

 

[Pak Warrior]

I was just mentioning to my friend that what happened in India will happen in Pakistan as it grows and becomes more populated and more international. Very scary

 

[gazza619]

Very worrying indeed. Wonder what the government should do...

 

[MenInG]

https://www.dawn.com/news/1478595/12-more-children-in-ratodero-test-hiv-positive

LARKANA: The number of HIV-positive cases rose to 18 when a special team working under the administrative control of the Sindh AIDS Control Programme on Friday arrived in Ratodero to ascertain the causes of its spread in children.

Dr Holla Ram, who looks after the local AIDS control office, said that after visiting Ratodero and meeting the people concerned, the team received laboratory reports of 15 infected children. Of them, he added, 12 appeared HIV-posi*tive cases and the rest HIV-negative.

The tests were conducted by the Peoples Public Health Initiative (PPHI) office. “But even then we will double check them by conducting fresh tests,” he said.

The number of such cases in the area rises to 18

“We also met Dr Imran Arbani, a leading general practitioner in Ratodero, to further assess gravity of the situation. Dr Umair Malik, the national treatment coordinator of the programme, will arrive here from Islamabad on Saturday along with the relevant medicines. On the recommendation of Prof Saifullah Jamro, Prof Dr Fatima Mir, a specialist in viral diseases from Aga Khan University, Karachi, will also be arriving here to provide training to doctors and other staff in the handling of HIV-positive and AIDS cases,” he said.

The AIDS Control Programme team comprising Dr Safdar Abbasi, the head of the AIDS Treatment Centre at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), and Sikandar Iqbal, the NGO coordinator, along with technicians carried out tests for the disease after doing a blood screening test at the Ratodero taluka hospital.

Dr Abbasi told Dawn that 69 blood samples, collected from children of different age groups, were screened and only two cases — a woman and her seven-month-old child — were found to be HIV-positive. Interestingly, her husband appeared HIV-negative, he said, adding that more tests would be carried out.

On Saturday two more teams would visit the taluka hospital and the outskirts of Ratodero to examine the patients hailing from different villages.

Dr Imran Arbani told Dawn that a 16-month-old girl was brought to him with the compliant of high fever. Upon being examined, it turned out to be an HIV-positive case, he said.

The doctor shared the reports of the PPHI lab with this correspondent which showed 16 HIV-positive cases. He claimed that five other patients whose tests were conducted at the Aga Khan lab had died of the deadly disease.

Dr Arbani said some cases were also reported from Thango Khan Bozdar and Allah Dino Selro villages situated on the outskirts of Ratodero. He said the infected patients belonged to the segment living below poverty line.

He suspected that multiple use of a syringe could be the cause of HIV infection. Recycling of used syringes has become a business here, he noted, and said that other factors could be unsafe sex and transfusion of unscreened blood during surgeries.

A resident of Nadir Shah Moh*alla, whose 16-month-old daughter was the first HIV-positive case that had surfaced in Ratodero, told Dawn that Dr Arbani had advised HIV/AIDS test when her temperature did not subside despite treatment provided by several doctors.

Dr Safdar Abbasi held quackery mostly responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1478595/12-more-children-in-ratodero-test-hiv-positive

 

[ahmedzee]

Wait until bilawal blames pti govt for this in larkana

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a> ....More than 2000 HIV positive cases have surfacedd in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Larkana?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Larkana</a> alone. Tonight on <a href="https://twitter.com/ZaraHatKay_Dawn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ZaraHatKay_Dawn</a> we talk to Sindh Health Commission chief on the alarming situation <a href="https://twitter.com/ZarrarKhuhro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ZarrarKhuhro</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WusatUllahKhan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WusatUllahKhan</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Dawn_News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Dawn_News</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/dawn_com?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dawn_com</a></p>— Mubashir Zaidi (@Xadeejournalist) <a href="https://twitter.com/Xadeejournalist/status/1123217565151633410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Abdullah719]

Police arrests Larkana doctor accused of ‘spreading’ HIV among patients

The Ratodero police on Tuesday arrested a doctor — who they allege is an HIV patient — after he was accused of passing on the virus to his patients in Larkana.

The arrest was made after an official of the anti-quackery team, Dr Abdul Sami Rajpur, filed a complaint against the doctor last night. The suspect is a government employee and also runs a private clinic.

It wasn't immediately clear how the doctor may have transmitted the virus to the patients.

Police produced him before a local court today and sought his three-day physical remand which was granted by the judge.

The suspect rejected the allegation that he was responsible for spreading the virus. In a brief conversation with local reporters outside the court, he claimed that if he had known he was HIV-positive, he would have sought treatment for himself first.

Larkana Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Siddique Noman confirmed that a first information report (FIR) was registered with Dr Rajpur as the complainant. Confirming the suspect's subsequent arrest, he said a detailed report of the matter will be sent to senior officials for further investigation.

The in-charge of the Sindh Aids Control Programme, Dr Sikander Memon, said that a medical team will arrive in Ratodero next week to determine the causes of the spread of the virus among residents. A medical examination of the doctor will also be conducted.

The Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan (MMIDSP) weighed in on the case, saying that "the transmission of HIV from doctor to patient is impossible even if the former administers injections to the latter."

The medical society also noted that "it is against all ethics to disclose a person's HIV status to another person, let alone the media."

Panic gripped Larkana over the past few weeks after dozens of HIV-positive cases were reported across the district. Children as young as 16 months were among those diagnosed with the virus. Multiple teams of the Sindh Aids Control Programme arrived in Ratodero last week to carry out tests of people who were suspected to have been infected with HIV.

A list compiled by Sindh Health Services department, a copy of which is available with Dawn, confirmed that 29 people in Ratodero carry the HIV virus. Of the 29, five were parents.

Today, during a screening test carried out in Ratodero through kits, another 59 cases were suspected to be positive, Director General Health Services Dr Masood Solangi told Dawn.

Since the exercise which began on April 24, a total of 2,028 cases have been screened in medical camps set up in Taluka Hospital, Ratodero and Allah Bux Seelro village where an outbreak of the virus was reported.

The samples of suspected carriers will be sent to the National Institute of Health or Aga Khan University for confirmation through lab tests.

27 clinics of quacks have also been sealed by Sindh Healthcare Commission.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1479407/p...octor-accused-of-spreading-hiv-among-patients

 

[sjahmed23]

But bhutto zinda ha?

 

[Minnowbasher]

But but Larkana is supposed to be Jannah as it's the birthplace of the Bhutto saints who have left Sindh so well off and rich....

 

[mustang]

Police arrests Larkana doctor accused of ‘spreading’ HIV among patients

The Ratodero police on Tuesday arrested a doctor — who they allege is an HIV patient — after he was accused of passing on the virus to his patients in Larkana.

The arrest was made after an official of the anti-quackery team, Dr Abdul Sami Rajpur, filed a complaint against the doctor last night. The suspect is a government employee and also runs a private clinic.

It wasn't immediately clear how the doctor may have transmitted the virus to the patients.

Police produced him before a local court today and sought his three-day physical remand which was granted by the judge.

The suspect rejected the allegation that he was responsible for spreading the virus. In a brief conversation with local reporters outside the court, he claimed that if he had known he was HIV-positive, he would have sought treatment for himself first.

Larkana Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Siddique Noman confirmed that a first information report (FIR) was registered with Dr Rajpur as the complainant. Confirming the suspect's subsequent arrest, he said a detailed report of the matter will be sent to senior officials for further investigation.

The in-charge of the Sindh Aids Control Programme, Dr Sikander Memon, said that a medical team will arrive in Ratodero next week to determine the causes of the spread of the virus among residents. A medical examination of the doctor will also be conducted.

The Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan (MMIDSP) weighed in on the case, saying that "the transmission of HIV from doctor to patient is impossible even if the former administers injections to the latter."

The medical society also noted that "it is against all ethics to disclose a person's HIV status to another person, let alone the media."

Panic gripped Larkana over the past few weeks after dozens of HIV-positive cases were reported across the district. Children as young as 16 months were among those diagnosed with the virus. Multiple teams of the Sindh Aids Control Programme arrived in Ratodero last week to carry out tests of people who were suspected to have been infected with HIV.

A list compiled by Sindh Health Services department, a copy of which is available with Dawn, confirmed that 29 people in Ratodero carry the HIV virus. Of the 29, five were parents.

Today, during a screening test carried out in Ratodero through kits, another 59 cases were suspected to be positive, Director General Health Services Dr Masood Solangi told Dawn.

Since the exercise which began on April 24, a total of 2,028 cases have been screened in medical camps set up in Taluka Hospital, Ratodero and Allah Bux Seelro village where an outbreak of the virus was reported.

The samples of suspected carriers will be sent to the National Institute of Health or Aga Khan University for confirmation through lab tests.

27 clinics of quacks have also been sealed by Sindh Healthcare Commission.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1479407/p...octor-accused-of-spreading-hiv-among-patients

man, this is beyond disgusting. That culprit doctor should be given the death penalty if proven guilty.

 

[topspin]

Doctor most likely a US or Indian agent, if it is true.

 

[Tiger96]

Doctor most likely a US or Indian agent, if it is true.

Could have been the case but the doctor himself is suffering from Aids. I am getting the impression that the doctor knew his fate and hence wanted many other people to suffer the same way.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Family Planning is urgently needed in Pakistan, along with mandatory education till college.

 

[Abdullah719]

Number of HIV cases in Larkana rises to 65

The number of reported cases tested positive for HIV in Larkana has risen to 65.

According to the Sindh Aids Control Programme, the number of people with Aids has also risen sharply over the past few weeks.

Sindh Aids Control Programme In-Charge Dr Sikander Memon told Express News that 50 children and 15 adults were found to be infected with HIV.
He said blood samples of over 2,100 people have been sent for testing.

Earlier this week, police detained Dr Muzaffar Ghangharo on charges of infecting dozens of his patients with HIV.

Dr Muzaffar, himself an HIV patient, works at a public hospital and also runs a private clinic in Ratodero, a small town in Larkana.

According to data collected by the provincial control programme, there are more than 100,000 HIV-positive people in the Sindh, though the programme has only 10,350 registered patients who are provided treatment.

Larkana continues to top the list of districts most affected by HIV in Sindh, with the total number of Aids patients at more than 2,400.

According to WHO, Pakistan is registering approximately 20,000 new HIV infections annually – the highest rate of increase among all countries in the region.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1963368/1-number-hiv-cases-larkana-rises-65/

 

[Abdullah719]

HIV cases in Larkana put a question mark on Sindh’s healthcare system

HYDERABAD: The recent surge in detection of HIV-positive cases in just one taluka of Larkana district has painted a bleak picture of the existing healthcare system in Sindh, where a number of bodies exist to fight HIV and other diseases but the situation has turned alarming.

Larkana is considered to be the political capital of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and increasing number of such ailments indeed reflects poorly as far as its tall claims of good governance are concerned. This situation calls for a thorough audit of the healthcare system and related aspects.

The conditions at the primary and secondary level of health facilities are enough to make one worry.

Just a couple of years ago, close to 100 people, out of 13,600 measles patients, died in seven districts of upper Sindh after the Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) had failed to achieve required vaccination coverage.

Also, quackery apparently is the leading cause behind the current outbreak of HIV-positive cases in Larkana, as quacks reused syringes for patients.

If community screening is carried out elsewhere, as carried out in villages of Hyderabad district (140 HIV-positive cases since last year) by Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI), it would end up in more HIV cases.

Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho in her recent policy statement in the Sindh Assembly had said that “screening everyone” for HIV in the province was difficult.

She disclosed that Hyderabad district was another high-risk area for HIV/AIDS in Sindh. Initially, Sindh’s AIDS Control Programme manager Dr Sikandar Memon had claimed 10,000 HIV cases were there in Sindh.

Police probe under way

In Larkana, a doctor, who himself tested positive for HIV during screening, has been arrested. He was accused by the Larkana deputy commissioner “of infecting 15 children” but health services director general Dr Masood Solangi disputed the DC’s statement and termed the doctor “insane”.

A case has been registered against the said doctor, but there is no explanation whether the 15 children were infected by him. Till May 3, 128 persons, out of 3,483, tested positive for HIV in Larkana, showing that the disease remains prevalent while health authorities are in a state of denial.

In response to a request of DIG Larkana Irfan Ali Baloch names of three senior professors — two from Dow University and one from the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) — have been notified to assist the police in a probe against the held doctor.

The DIG, however, rejected the claim that the arrested doctor was “insane”. “We have found him normal,” he told Dawn.

Bodies like the Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA), Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC) and the AIDS Control Programme apparently work in isolation. “We need to expand the scope of screening to other districts,” an SBTA official said.

The Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC) is a relatively new set-up that became functional only last year. It has prepared a roadmap as to how to ban quackery besides improving quality healthcare in public and private sectors. It got 41 clinics sealed and issued notices to 100 for questionable practices in Larkana.

“In the last 70 years we have not been able to have the data of healthcare. We have planned geo-mapping of public and private healthcare establishments in Sindh through a questionnaire. Its trial run will begin in Karachi by mid-May,” said SHCC chief Dr Minhaj Qidwai.

He added: “There is a ‘rent-seeking behaviour’ among doctors in Sindh. The tendency among doctors to outsource their premises to dispensers results in increasing quackery. We will be having doctors’ registration re-verified with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council.”

The SBTA’s task is to curb unsafe blood transfusion through unregistered blood banks. However, over the last several years it failed to make its presence felt effectively until it was headed by Dr Zahid Ansari. The authority had even declined to run German-funded blood centres in Sindh.

Now, it has got Dr Dur-e-Naz Jamal as its new head. She visited Larkana against the backdrop of HIV-positive cases and got some unregulated facilities closed.

The AIDS Control Programme has not been able to reduce HIV burden and it is not sharing correct statistics of the disease that may otherwise enable government to combat AIDS, lest it attains epidemic proportions in other parts of Sindh, too.

Govt outsources 53pc health facilities

According to one estimate, the Sindh health department has outsourced around 53 per cent of its health facilities. The PPHI owns around 90pc (1,135) of the basic health units (BHUs). Substantial number of rural health centres (RHCs) and taluka hospitals are outsourced. The health department practically deals with tertiary level, district headquarters hospitals and dispensaries.

Reports said that the World Health Organisation (WHO)-recommended kits for blood screening were not used even at the privatised health facilities.

“No third-party evaluation is done in respect of the BHUs so far run by the PPHI to see what qualitative change it had brought about. More facilities are privatised to other entities. The government paid Rs21 billion in three years to the PPHI. Why we are bent upon privatising our health infrastructure?” asked Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) general secretary Pir Manzoor.

The government has even outsourced one of four German-funded Regional Blood Centres (RBC) of Jamshoro to a private party. It was despite the fact that the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) had requested the Sindh government to hand the facility to it for safe blood supplies. But the government declined the offer.

The very RBC provides blood (packed cells) to a patient for Rs2,800-3,000, which is around 400pc more compared to the LUMHS’s current cost of Rs700 for the same blood.

Under the German funding, four RBCs were to be set up in Sukkur, Jamshoro, Benazirabad and Karachi. Out of Rs1.77bn funding, Sindh got a share of Rs637 million. Other provincial governments were running it in public sector universities.

“I think soon the Sindh health department will exist only on paper because we will have nothing to look after,” quipped a senior health source.

He said that while services were being privatised, the much-talked about change in the delivery of qualitative healthcare still remained a distant dream.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1480257/h...t-a-question-mark-on-sindhs-healthcare-system

 

[gazza619]

Shameful PPP and their supporters. If this wont take them to hell, nothing will.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

PPP cant even fix their own damn city, let alone Karachi. Atleast PMLN took care of Lahore. Absolute garbage.

 

[Zhasan]

Doctor most likely a US or Indian agent, if it is true.

Rather a convenient scapegoat for the waderas of Sindh to hide their criminal negligence.

 

[slipcatch]

Interior Sindh has one of the worse healthcare and education system.

I’ve personally witness it because I belong from interior Sindh.

PPP hasn’t done anything for interior Sindh, will not do anything to improve the life’s of ordinary citizens and incapable to improve the life’s of ordinary citizens, even if Sahib(a) Bilawal were to shun Zardari, he still won’t be able to improve the life’s of ordinary citizens.

But I guess we should continue to elect them because they are supposedly “competent” corrupt politician.

 

[Abdullah719]

8 children test HIV-positive in Shikarpur, health dept decides to expand screening

Nine more people, eight of them children, were identified as HIV-positive in Shikarpur on Thursday, taking the total number of such cases in the district in recent days to 22, officials said.

The cases emerged during the day-long blood screening exercise, which was started by the provincial government after an outbreak of HIV-positive cases in Larkana.

A total of 517 people were tested in the Shikarpur villages of *******, Pirbakhsh Theem and Sarang Shar. In ******* alone, eight children — the youngest among them aged one — and a woman were detected as HIV-positive.

After the emergence of the cases, a meeting of high-level officials of the health department was held in *******. Chaired by District Health Office Ghulam Shabbir Sheikh, the meeting decided to expand the blood screening drive in ******* and surrounding villages.

It also resolved to initiate an awareness campaign to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in the area. Teams comprising senior medical officers will visit different villages to inform people about preventative measures and encourage them to get tested.

The meeting was informed that the children identified as HIV-positive have been referred to the AIDS Treatment Centre in Larkana, where they will be treated free of cost under the Sindh AIDS Control Programme.

It was revealed during the meeting that a primary reason behind the spread of HIV cases is quacks and unregistered laboratories and maternity homes, where syringes are reused on patients. Officials decided to launch a crackdown against such establishments in Shikarpur and beyond.


2 test positive for HIV in Thar

Also on Thursday, two people tested positive for HIV in Tharparkar district.

Deputy Medical Superintendent of Mithi Civil Hospital Dr Chaman Sharma told reporters that a 28-year-old man from village Mithrio and a 30-year-old woman from Diplo town were found to have HIV after tests were conducted.

According to the doctor, the two people will require further tests to ascertain the required treatment.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1481253

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Not good.

 

[PakLFC]

We need to educate our people on AIDS and HIV. There is so much ignorance in Pak especially amongst villagers.

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="ur" dir="rtl">لاڑکانہ میں ایچ آئی وی کی وبا، متاثرہ ماؤں نے بچوں کو دودھ پلانا چھوڑ دیا<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IndyUrdu?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IndyUrdu</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Larkana?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Larkana</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HIV?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HIV</a> <a href="https://t.co/dFsfMZCC5p">https://t.co/dFsfMZCC5p</a> <a href="https://t.co/zG130DA9hV">pic.twitter.com/zG130DA9hV</a></p>— Independent Urdu (@indyurdu) <a href="https://twitter.com/indyurdu/status/1130451606514917376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Lonewarrior]

why people are surprised by this news ? ha anyone visite the interior sindh ? HIV or no HIV, the living standard of common sindhis is not in good shape.

 

[MenInG]

The first sign that something was wrong in the small southern Pakistani town of Ratto Dero appeared in February.

A handful of worried parents had taken their children to the doctor, complaining that their little ones could not shake off a fever.

Within weeks, more children came forward suffering from a similar illness.

Bemused, Dr Imran Aarbani sent the children's blood away for testing. What came back confirmed his worst fears. The children were infected with HIV - and no-one knows why.

"By 24 April, 15 children had tested positive, though none of their parents were found to be carrying the virus," the hospital doctor told the BBC.

It was only the tip of the iceberg.

In the past month, more than 607 people - 75% of them children - have been diagnosed with the virus after rumours of an outbreak sent families rushing to a special camp set up at the town's government hospital by the health department of Sindh province.

Perhaps more surprising, however, is the fact that this is not the first outbreak to hit the region in recent years.

Rumours of a possible outbreak in Sindh province's Larkana, of which Ratto Dero is a sub-division, prompted thousands of people to get tested back in 2016.

On that occasion, 1,521 people were found to be HIV positive, according to figures available with Sindh Aids Control Programme (SACP).

The vast majority of those infected were men and, at the time, the cause was linked to the area's sex workers, who were mainly transgender and 32 of whom were found to be carrying the Aids virus.

The discovery of the outbreak led to a crackdown on Larkana's travellers' inns, where sex workers had been able to ply their trade relatively freely, despite a ban on prostitution in Pakistan.

But could that outbreak be linked to health officials' recent discovery?

Read more like this
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Dr Asad Memon, who heads the SACP operations in Larkana, believes so - although not directly.

"I think the (Aids) virus was being carried by members of the high-risk group (transgender and female sex workers) and then lax practices by local quacks caused it to infect other patients," he told the BBC.

By "quack" he is referring to under-qualified people practising medicine, ranging from paramedics running a private clinic posing as doctors, to medical graduates who have been unable to find work in hospitals and have no exposure to standard medical practices.

In Pakistan, especially in rural areas, people often go to "quacks" instead of qualified doctors because they are cheaper, easily available, and have more time to give to their patients.

Dr Fatima Mir, who works for the Aga Khan University Hospital and specialises in Aids among children, is currently doing volunteer work in Ratto Dero. She agrees that negligent medical practices are the most likely link between the children and the 2016 outbreak.

"There are three ways a child may be infected," she explained. "It's either through a lactating mother who carries the virus, through blood transfusion, or through an infected surgical instrument or a syringe."

In most cases she has handled, the mothers tested negative for HIV and few children had undergone blood transfusions. So the only remaining explanation was the practice of using one syringe for several patients at local clinics.

Officials also appear to agree. About 500 unregulated clinics have been ordered closed across the province, the health authorities reported.

What's more, a local child specialist, Dr Muzaffar Ghangro, has been arrested on charges of spreading Aids through syringes.

He has denied the charge, saying all the infected people were not his patients.

Dr Muzaffar Ghangro was arrested on suspicion of spreading Aids by re-using syringes at his clinic - a claim he denies
Meanwhile, officials in Sindh - which has one of the highest HIV infection rates in Pakistan - have set up an inquiry to identify causes of the outbreak.

But that will not help those who have already found themselves with a diagnosis that will impact on their whole lives.

Doctors at the hospital camp in Ratto Dero have now tested more than 18,418 people since 25 April.

At least 607 of them have tested positive so far, three-quarters of them children between the ages of one month and 15 years.

That means there are hundreds of parents left counting the cost - both to their children's health, and their everyday existence.

"Medicines for grown-ups are usually available [with health authorities] in Larkana, but for the child's medicines we have to go to Karachi, which means we spend several thousand rupees on each trip," one mother, whose three-year-old daughter had been diagnosed as HIV-positive, told the BBC.

"My husband is only a day-labourer, so we won't be able to afford this for long."



https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia...at-apps.in-app-msg.whatsapp.trial.link1_.auin

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Good lord this is abhorrent.

 

[Bewal Express]

Maybe Billo could use his "mastery" of the English Language to explain how these innocent people have been betrayed by a govt he leads.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

Sindh government should conduct HIV tests across Sindh on emergency bases. Any person who suffer raised temperature, sore throat, body rash, tiredness, joint pain, muscle pain, swollen glands, weight loss, chronic diarrhea, night sweats, Skin problems, recurrent infections and other more serious life-threatening illness should receive a mandatory HIV test, especially in areas afflicted most by the disease.

 

[Madplayer]

I am really scared of the actual numbers being catastrophic. I really hope these numbers dont increase any further. My God, what a calamity.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

In the long run, we need a functioning pharmaceutical industry with fully developed R&D capacities. Locally manufactured generic medicines are the need of the hour if we are hoping to tackle this and any other medical emergencies in far flung areas as well as in areas suffering from urban decay.

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

Dr gives 400 children HIV

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9098962/twisted-aids-infected-doctor-deliberately-400-kids-hiv/

 

[last_knight]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9098962/twisted-aids-infected-doctor-deliberately-400-kids-hiv/

What I heard is said doctor is being made a scapegoat.
Administration was under pressure and to cover up for admonition failure they blamed it all on a doctor who himself didn't know about his HIV few months ago.
That's what I have heard. Disinformation everywhere. One doesn't know which story is true.

 

[Majestic_Inzi]

What I heard is said doctor is being made a scapegoat.
Administration was under pressure and to cover up for admonition failure they blamed it all on a doctor who himself didn't know about his HIV few months ago.
That's what I have heard. Disinformation everywhere. One doesn't know which story is true.

So how did they contact disease, use same syringe? Rape?

Wth has happened to these poor kids.. My blood is boiling and my heart goes to all these families suffering.

 

[Abdullah719]

Bilawal says HIV can be treated, Sindh government to take care of patients

RATO DERO, Sindh: Pakistan People Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday said the Sindh government would take full care of HIV patients in Sindh.

There is a huge difference between HIV and aids," said he while addressing a press conference.

He said there was lack of awareness about HIV in Pakistan, adding that it could develop into aids withing 10 years only if it is not treated.

"Every one should be aware of HIV so that they can protect themselves against disease," he said.

He dismissed the impression that Larkana and Rato Deo were facing an HIV plague.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said he has directed the SIndh government to establish an endowment fund for treatment of HIV patients.

He said patients would be provided with the facility of treatment for rest of their lives.

He said while the disease can be treated and people need to understand that they would not contract the illness by merely touching the HIV patients.

"HIV is not a death punishment, it can be treated," he said.

"HIV patients are as much Pakistanis as we are," said Bilawal.

The PPP chairman said he would not tolerate naming of the HIV patients.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/476177-bilawal-says-hiv-curable-patients-to-be-taken-care-of

 

[SensiblePakFan]

How can someone downplay a disease?

 

[slipcatch]

So how did they contact disease, use same syringe? Rape?

Wth has happened to these poor kids.. My blood is boiling and my heart goes to all these families suffering.

Kids can contract it three ways

From mother

From transplant and blood transfusion

From infected surgical equipment, like syringes.

 

[last_knight]

So how did they contact disease, use same syringe? Rape?

Wth has happened to these poor kids.. My blood is boiling and my heart goes to all these families suffering.

Said doctor was named culprit too quickly to believe the validity of blame. I won't associate such rapid efficiency with authorities in Pakistan. They take months/years to establish the cause. Over-efficiency shown in this case makes the report very doubtful. But as I said, disinformations everywhere. I can't say which story is true.

 

[last_knight]

Bilawal says HIV can be treated, Sindh government to take care of patients

RATO DERO, Sindh: Pakistan People Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday said the Sindh government would take full care of HIV patients in Sindh.

There is a huge difference between HIV and aids," said he while addressing a press conference.

He said there was lack of awareness about HIV in Pakistan, adding that it could develop into aids withing 10 years only if it is not treated.

"Every one should be aware of HIV so that they can protect themselves against disease," he said.

He dismissed the impression that Larkana and Rato Deo were facing an HIV plague.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said he has directed the SIndh government to establish an endowment fund for treatment of HIV patients.

He said patients would be provided with the facility of treatment for rest of their lives.

He said while the disease can be treated and people need to understand that they would not contract the illness by merely touching the HIV patients.

"HIV is not a death punishment, it can be treated," he said.

"HIV patients are as much Pakistanis as we are," said Bilawal.

The PPP chairman said he would not tolerate naming of the HIV patients.

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/476177-bilawal-says-hiv-curable-patients-to-be-taken-care-of

Life-long Anti-Viral treatment itself is a health compromising factor.
Need to educate public.
For Pakistan, following chapters should be in textbooks from class 6-10.

6= Hygienic Living + Hygienic Treatment
7= Hepatitis B & C
8= Communicable Diseases + Immunisation & Vaccinations.
9= Diabetes + Hypertension
10 = TB + Vaccinations

Including these in textbooks means a chain of information stretching across student, teacher, parents.

 

[Savak]

Some Die Hard PPP supporters on Social Media are accusing the PTI govt of being behind this conspiracy to make Bilawal look bad after he had been putting pressure on the PTI govt in parliament and in his press conferences.

 

[Savak]

 

[WebGuru]

No aunties standing on left/right to help him answer this? Poor billo i feel sad for him

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How hundreds, mostly children, were infected with HIV in this Pakistani city: <a href="https://t.co/WONMBjo5Jr">pic.twitter.com/WONMBjo5Jr</a></p>— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1133651692581531648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Bewal Express]

No aunties standing on left/right to help him answer this? Poor billo i feel sad for him

As Afridi said he is a puppet. No brains to answer simple questions

 

[Abdullah719]

Pakistan man murders HIV positive wife in epidemic-hit south

Karachi: A Pakistani man killed his HIV positive wife on Wednesday in southern Pakistan, where hundreds of people have tested positive for the virus in recent weeks, stirring panic and casting a light on the country's dismal public health standards.

Police said the murder took place in a village near the epicentre of the outbreak on the outskirts of Larkana city in Pakistan's Sindh province, where thousands have been screened in the last month.

The victim - a 32-year-old mother of four - tested positive in recent days, according to a local police officer, with her husband accusing her of having an extramarital affair.

"This morning the husband strangled (the victim) with a rope and then hung her from a tree outside his home," Roshan Ali - a police officer in Shikarpur - told AFP, adding that the suspect was now in custody.


Gross negligence or malicious intent

Anger and fear continue to swell in the desperately poor villages and suburbs near Larkana affected by the epidemic, which authorities say could be linked to either gross negligence or malicious intent by a local doctor using tainted syringes.

In rural Sindh - long bridled by harsh poverty and illiteracy - access to information about HIV and other diseases has kept the large swathes of the population in the dark about how the virus is transmitted.

Health officials say nearly 700 people, many of them children, have tested positive in recent weeks as experts warn of a surge in infection rates across Pakistan due to the use of unsanitary equipment and rampant malpractice - often at the hands of quack doctors.

Pakistan was long considered a low prevalence country for HIV, but the disease is expanding at an alarming rate - particularly among intravenous drug users and sex workers.

With about 20,000 new HIV infections reported in 2017 alone, Pakistan currently has the second fastest-growing HIV rates across Asia, according to the UN.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pak...ve-wife-in-epidemic-hit-south-1.1559136563476

 

[Bewal Express]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How hundreds, mostly children, were infected with HIV in this Pakistani city: <a href="https://t.co/WONMBjo5Jr">pic.twitter.com/WONMBjo5Jr</a></p>— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1133651692581531648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The life of these poor people has been destroyed.

 

[Savak]

I wonder if areas or locations need to be quarantined, we need to stop this HIV Virus from spreading.

 

[WebGuru]

I wonder if areas or locations need to be quarantined, we need to stop this HIV Virus from spreading.

A WHO team and some other international health experts arrived in Pakistan today to have a look into this issue. Newly appointed health adviser of PM is from WHO he arranged this visit

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hundreds of Pakistani children were infected with HIV after a doctor reused contaminated syringes at a private clinic. Then he was reassigned to a government hospital -- until <a href="https://twitter.com/Abihabib?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Abihabib</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/salmanmasood?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@salmanmasood</a> wrote this story. <a href="https://t.co/HpOxfC5CTM">https://t.co/HpOxfC5CTM</a></p>— Diaa Hadid ضياء حديد (@diaahadid) <a href="https://twitter.com/diaahadid/status/1189855432174702593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan’s government just suspended the pediatrician accused of infecting 900 kids with HIV by reusing syringes. The suspension comes just days after we tracked the doctor down & found he’d been reassigned to a government hospital <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pakistan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pakistan</a>. Update here: <a href="https://t.co/sVaIxLYm9A">https://t.co/sVaIxLYm9A</a></p>— Maria Abi-Habib (@Abihabib) <a href="https://twitter.com/Abihabib/status/1189845628274130944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Abdullah719]

Pakistani doctor who reused syringes busted after 900 children contracted HIV

Spoiler

Nearly 900 children in a small Pakistani city have been infected with HIV — and local officials say a single pediatrician is at least partly to blame, for reusing syringes on multiple patients, according to a new report.

Since April, about 1,100 citizens in the city of Ratodero have tested positive for the virus, which can lead to AIDS, the New York Times reported. Almost 900 of them are younger than 12.

Investigators concluded that many of the infected children had gone to the same pediatrician, Muzaffar Ghangro, who served the city’s poorest families.

Ghangro has been arrested and charged with negligence, manslaughter and causing unintentional harm, the Times reported.

But Ghangro told the paper he is innocent and never reused syringes.

Local TV reporter Gulbahar Shaikh, who broke the news of the outbreak, found out that his 2-year-old daughter, who went to the same doctor, also had the virus.

He told the Times his daughter, who is responding well to treatment, has become an outcast in the community.

“My wife and I, fortunately, we are literate,” Shaikh told the paper. “We hug and love our daughter. But our relatives stopped touching her and are now reluctant to visit us.”

Ghangro treated all six children of laborer Imtiaz Jalbani, four of whom contracted the virus, he told the Times. His two youngest, only 14 months and 3 years old, died.

He told the paper the doctor snapped at him and said he was using an old syringe because Jalbani couldn’t afford a new one.

“He said, ‘If you don’t want my treatment, go to another doctor,’” Jalbani told the paper. “My wife and I had to starve ourselves to pay for the medicine.”

Now health officials say it’s likely Ghangro’s reused needles weren’t the only source of the epidemic. Barbers and roadside dentists in the region also reuse their tools, Dr. Imran Akbar Arbani, who practices in the area, told the Times.

“Unless these quack doctors, barbers and dentists are not checked, the number of incidents of HIV infection will continue going up,” he said.

https://nypost.com/2019/10/28/pakis...ges-busted-after-900-children-contracted-hiv/

 

[msaaim89]

“My wife and I, fortunately, we are literate,” Shaikh told the paper. “We hug and love our daughter. But our relatives stopped touching her and are now reluctant to visit us.”

This part stood out, quite sad really how lives have been turned completely upside down through no fault of their own.

Pakistan really is in a sorry state.

 

[Abdullah719]

The forgotten children of Ratodero

KARACHI: The Ratodero HIV outbreak shook the country last year but unfortunately our plight has been forgotten and we struggle to pick up the pieces of this huge blunder, parents of HIV-positive children from the dusty town of Ratodero, Larkana, said on the eve of World AIDS Day.

According to the Sindh AIDS Control Programme (SACP), as of Nov 30 some 42,533 individuals have been screened and 1,438 of them are found to be HIV positive, who were registered at the ART Centre in Ratodero.

Of these, 1,076 are children including 666 boys and 410 girls.

The SACP confirmed that 34 children and four adults from the Ratodero outbreak have died.

What started out as attention-grabbing headlines of ‘HIV-positive doctor caught for spreading AIDS in Larkana’ ended up as a sordid saga exposing a poor healthcare system and lack of accountability.

Talking to Dawn, many parents shared harrowing accounts of social boycotts from family, friends and community.

“What has happened in Ratodero is a big mistake and no one has been held accountable. We thought the media attention would lead to some improvement but nothing has changed,” said SNH, the father of a young girl, ‘Baby E’, who contracted HIV after being exposed to contaminated syringes.

It was the father’s persistent use of social media that eventually led to Ratodero’s HIV/AIDS outbreak being highlighted in the national and international media.

According to infectious diseases experts, it was poor infection control practices (ICP) — including reuse of syringes and unscreened blood — that lead to the spread of HIV in Larkana district’s general population.

Rude awakening
“Last year, my daughter was ill. When a local doctor told me to get her checked for HIV I lost my temper but he persuaded me. My head was spinning when I saw her report,” the father said. More shock awaited him as he realized there were hundreds of children with the same status.

“I thought my daughter would die, she was so weak. I spent 19 days in Karachi’s Civil Hospital and later another 16 days at Aga Khan Hospital. That one month cost me Rs700,000,” he said.

An educated, middle-class individual, the girl’s father is a rarity among the Ratodero outbreak parents who understands what HIV/AIDS is and its lifelong impact.

The HIV epidemic in Larkana district is also not a new one. The first HIV case was reported there in 1995. Eight years later, in 2003, the city garnered attention when the first outbreak of HIV among injecting drug users (IDUs) was reported. Out of 175 IDUs, 17 were confirmed positive. In 2016, the outbreak in the haemodialysis unit of a public hospital in Larkana made headlines and the number of HIV-positive people in the district crossed the 1,200 mark.

SC said he was struggling since his son’s positive status became known. “I am a daily wager. People from my tribe mistreat me and my family. The elders said we are dirty people.”

He said he was able to get ARVs [antiretroviral] but does not have enough money to buy powdered milk and supplements, which will give strength to his son. “HIV has made things worse for me and family. I used to go to Larkana looking for odd jobs but work has dried up. People fear HIV more than coronavirus. Many won’t allow me to stand near their door, let alone enter the house” he said.

MJ, a young mother, shared similar views.

‘I will sell my kidneys to feed my son’
“One of my sons tested HIV positive and it hurts me so much. My immediate family is supportive but others are not. Playing with other kids ends up becoming an issue as women bar their kids from playing with him,” she said.

“We are struggling to make ends meet. We get good milk and food for him now but he is still weak. He is my son and I will sell my kidneys to feed him but my other children suffer as we try to make ends meet,” she said.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Imran Akbar Arbani, the doctor who suggested to the parents to get their sick children tested for HIV, said it’s an ongoing struggle for the families. “Most parents are very poor and unable to understand what ails their child.

“There is a dire need for a rehabilitation programme. We do some relief work on our own but these children need something sustainable,” he said, adding that poor infection control practices must be looked into.

Responding to Dawn, the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC) said the body was working on safe injection practices while it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan for training of doctors and nurses across the province based on Sindh Service Delivery Standards.

“Since the outbreak we have been trying our best to raise awareness about quackery and safe disposal of hospital waste. We are asking clinics and hospitals not to throw used injections,” said Dr Ahmed Raza Kazmi, SHCC’s director clinical governance and training.

When asked about the status of the Rs1 billion endowment fund set up in the aftermath of the Ratodero outbreak, SACP additional director CDC-I for Enhanced HIV/AIDS Control Programme Dr Saqib Ali Shaikh said: “Mothers with HIV-positive children will be the beneficiary of this fund. We have been working on the documentation of mothers, many of whom did not have CNICs. Initially, some 200 bank accounts will be opened up in December. Transfer of money to mothers will ensure the children benefit from this fund.”

Meanwhile, SNH and other parents said that the government must ensure that their children were not discriminated against. They must be provided educational opportunities while jobs should be given to parents, they added.

The parents also urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to ensure their kids receive ‘HIV-positive health cards’ and inclusion in Ehsaas programme. They further requested Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who was elected as MNA from Ratodero, to ensure that the Rs1bn endowment fund was put to use.

Names have been abbreviated to protect privacy.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1593308

 

[Firebat]

The City Losing Its Children to H.I.V.

One day in February 2019, Nazeer Shah carried his 1-year-old daughter, Eman, into a medical clinic. The doctor there, Imran Arbani, was immediately alarmed: The girl was limp and lethargic, her head flopped over on her father’s shoulder. Her breathing was shallow and fast. She was asleep, hard to rouse, except when she woke to cough. She drooled from her mouth. Her tongue was covered with a thick white coating, which Arbani recognized as thrush, a condition that usually indicates a weakened immune system. At around 11 pounds, she was frighteningly underweight.

Shah told the doctor that Eman was born healthy and was well until three months earlier, when she began having diarrhea daily. Her weight dropped precipitously; she spiked fevers regularly. Every day she seemed worse than the day before. Shah handed the doctor a green plastic bag filled with assorted syrups and pills — more than a dozen different medications. These were all the things she had tried, he explained. Nothing helped. He had taken her to several doctors here in Ratodero, an impoverished city in southeastern Pakistan, and to specialists in Larkana, a city roughly 20 miles to the south. He couldn’t get any clear answers.

Shah lives close to Arbani’s clinic but was initially hesitant to take Eman to him because his specialty was urology. Arbani, however, is used to practicing family medicine as well. “A doctor is a doctor,” he says. “The people do not treat doctors who are specialists as specialists. I deal with a lot of general problems too.” Arbani, who has thick, expressive eyebrows and speaks in quick, forceful clips, told Shah that he wanted to test the girl for the human immunodeficiency virus.

“Doctor, are you joking, saying she might have H.I.V.?” Shah replied. “How is it possible?” But it was seemingly the only test that had not been done yet, so Shah drove Eman on his motorbike to a local laboratory, where a health care worker *****ed her finger for a drop of blood. They waited outside for half an hour, until Shah was given a slip of paper. “Weak positive,” it read.

“I was still confident at that point,” Shah told me. “It could be negative.” He took the results to Arbani, who suggested that Shah send another test to a satellite lab in Larkana run by Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, one of the country’s premier academic medical centers. Afterward, Shah returned to Arbani’s clinic so that together they could look at the results, which were available online. When they saw the word “reactive,” Shah began to weep.

Arbani counseled him on the next steps and advised that Eman go to Karachi, more than 300 miles away, because the closest H.I.V. treatment facility, in Larkana, was set up to treat adults. Shah, who had a stable bank job at the time, was able to scrounge up the 2,400 rupees, or about $15, for his family’s bus fare. (The average household income in Pakistan is around $260 a month; most in Ratodero survive on far less.) He spoke to a close friend and told him about his daughter’s condition. The response shocked him.

“My kid already has H.I.V.,” Shah’s friend said. Eman, it turned out, was not the first young child infected with the virus in Ratodero, where more than 300,000 people live. Shah’s friend’s son received the same diagnosis two years before. In each case, the parents tested negative for H.I.V.

In 2020, about 2.8 million people worldwide under the age of 20 were living with H.I.V.; over half of them were younger than 10, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations H.I.V. program. In a vast majority of these cases, the infection was acquired through vertical transmission, meaning an H.I.V.-positive mother passed the virus to her child during pregnancy or delivery or while breastfeeding. It was unusual that these two children in Ratodero had H.I.V. when their parents did not. Nor did either child have a chronic disease that would require rounds of blood transfusions or routine kidney dialysis, which could possibly expose them to blood-borne illnesses. The two previous major outbreaks in the area — one among drug users who used needles and another among patients at a contaminated dialysis center — involved higher-risk populations.

After Eman’s diagnosis, Arbani began testing many more of the sick children he saw for H.I.V. Within a matter of months, he had identified 14 pediatric patients with H.I.V. All of them were younger than 10.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/31/...tion=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage