Calling for criminal cases against healthcare providers involved in the reuse of syringes and other practices that led to HIV transmission in clinical settings, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has demanded a transparent, high-level investigation against programme heads and officials whose negligence resulted in HIV infections among children in Karachi, and accused the authorities of concealing critical data and failing to enforce basic biosafety standards across the country.
Reacting to recent disclosures made before the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, the PMA said the infection of 84 children at a Karachi hospital was not an isolated medical incident but the outcome of systemic regulatory failure and repeated violations of infection control protocols.
The association said the health ministry’s submission to the standing committee reflected a culture of concealment, with incomplete and redacted information presented to lawmakers tasked with overseeing the health sector. It warned that unreliable reporting systems were blinding parliamentarians to the true scale of the HIV crisis and weakening the national response.
The PMA pointed to serious gaps in official HIV data, noting that information on 669 reported cases from Kot Momin in Sargodha was missing from the dataset shared with the committee, while no updated figures were provided from Balochistan.
It also raised concern over the failure to provide treatment progress for 31 patients at the Nishtar Hospital, Multan, saying this reflected a breakdown in patient tracking and follow-up.
Linking the Karachi outbreak to wider infection control failures, the PMA said the rising number of HIV-positive cases in Sindh and Punjab reflected the failure to enforce basic biosafety protocols in healthcare facilities. It said unsafe injection practices, particularly the reuse of syringes, should be treated as criminal acts rather than administrative lapses, given the direct risk they posed to patients’ lives.
The doctors’ body also questioned the transparency and effectiveness of spending under the National AIDS Programme, saying official claims of per-patient expenditure were not reflected in official documentation or the quality of monitoring and patient care on the ground. With thousands of patients registered for treatment, it said weak reporting systems continued to obscure the true performance of the HIV control programmes.
The PMA demanded criminal action against individuals and institutions found guilty of reusing syringes and called for strictly monitored nationwide enforcement of auto-disable syringes in all public and private health facilities.
It also sought a comprehensive, independent audit of HIV surveillance and reporting systems presented to parliament, a swift review of the qualifications of regulatory council members, and the establishment of a real-time digital tracking system to ensure continuity of care for the HIV patients.
The association said it stood in solidarity with the families of the 84 affected children and warned that unless authorities moved towards prosecutions and structural reform, preventable healthcare-linked HIV infections would continue to occur across the country.
