Pakistan has now 2nd fastest growing rate of HIV in Asia

Last month, provincial health authorities were alarmed when the number of HIV-positive cases rose to 39, which included over a dozen children.

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, who himself is an AIDS patient, in Ratodero for other ailments.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that a doctor who was accused of allegedly spreading HIV was being interrogated.

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Ghangar, who is also employed at a public hospital in Ratodero, is accused of infecting more than 50 patients, mostly children, by repeated use of single contaminated syringe.

The doctor has been arrested and is currently under police custody.

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.

Sindh health secretary Dr Saeed Ahmed Awan said majority of those tested HIV positive were children and the reason for this was apparently a surge in infection rates across country due to the use of unsanitary equipment, unsafe blood transfusion and rampant malpractice — often at the hands of quack doctors.

According to UNAIDS, around 600,000 quack doctors are operating across Pakistan and around 270,000 are practicing in the Sindh province.