The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices to the provincial government’s health department and others on a plea seeking the enforcement of the regulation & control of disposable syringes law and an inquiry into HIV infection of children at a Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (Sessi) hospital.
M Tariq Mansoor said in his petition that several children had been affected due to the negligence of the paramedical staff of Sessi’s Kulsoom Bai Valika Site Hospital in Karachi in October 2025. The children were infected due to the reuse of syringes at the hospital, he added.
Mansoor said that the provincial assembly had promulgated the Sindh Regulation & Control of Disposable Syringes Act, 2010, to prevent people from infection and to control the spread of allied diseases.
Despite a lapse of 16 years and the promulgation of the law to curb the reuse of syringes at healthcare facilities, the practice of reusing syringes still exists, causing the spread of infectious diseases in patients, he added.
He said the government has not framed the rules for the disposable syringes law. He requested the court to direct the government to enforce the law, and provide proper medical treatment to patients, including the children who were infected due to the reuse of syringes at the Sessi hospital.
He also sought direction for the registration of an FIR against the officials responsible, requesting the court to direct the Sindh chief secretary to initiate a high-powered independent inquiry into the incident and fix responsibilities on the officials responsible.
An SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Saleem Jessar issued notices to the health department, Sessi and others, telling them to file their comments.
