KARACHI: Over 100 blood samples taken from addicts at Edhi Home
By Nizamuddin Siddiqui
KARACHI, Aug 8: More than a hundred blood samples have been taken from the 350-odd drug users, who were recently picked up from various roads and streets in the city and sent to the Edhi Home near Sohrab Goth.
According to Sindh Aids Control Programme chief Dr Sharaf Ali Shah, about 50 samples were taken on Friday and another 60 on Saturday. The samples would be tested for HIV and Hepatitis B and C, he said.
Dr Sharaf Ali told Dawn that the samples had been taken by his staff. "And we are going to test the samples for HIV. But, for Hepatitis the samples would be handed over to the Civil Hospital Karachi," he said.
He said that each drug user was being asked to give his consent before samples were collected. "We are not forcing anyone to do anything. The government's policy in this regard is clear. So there is no question of forcible drawing of blood," he said.
He said that the laboratory analysis work had not been commenced so far. "This work will start once we finish taking the samples." More samples would be taken on Monday or Tuesday, he added.
Asked if he knew whether the drug users had been sent to the Edhi Home forcibly, Dr Shah declined to make any comment. He said that the medical superintendent of Civil Hospital, Dr Mirza Raza Ali, was coordinating the initiative under which the drug users had been picked up and sent to Edhi Home.
When contacted, Dr Raza Ali acknowledged that more than 300 drug users had been shifted to the Edhi Home. However, he denied that the drug users had been sent without their consent.
He said that the initiative had not been undertaken on his behest. However, he did not elaborate and said that he was too busy tending to the people who had been wounded in an explosion in Site area.
Rizwan Edhi of the Edhi Foundation said the initiative had been undertaken following a request by the CCPO Tariq Jameel. He said that initially some 300 drug addicts had been sent to the Edhi Home but their number had now swelled to 400.
"The treatment of these people is continuing because we aim to detoxify and then rehabilitate them. We only want that these people become self-confident once again," he said.
He said that taking care of 400 people was an onerous responsibility. "A lot of money is needed but these people cannot be abandoned. They are living beings after all," he said.
Meanwhile, some well-placed sources said that the drug users taken to the Edhi Home were not keeping well. "On the first day, it became difficult for the Edhi staff to even feed them," said one source. Another source said that around 20 to 40 drug addicts had actually fled from the Edhi Home after creating holes in its walls.
