KARACHI: Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho told the provincial assembly on Monday that the main cause of the increasing incidence of HIV and AIDS was poor infection prevention and control (IPC).

Stressing the need for adopting the IPC protocol, she said that it was a practical solution to prevent spread of infection to patients and health workers.

She added that the spread of HIV was also reported in other parts of the country. She said there were 669 cases in Sargodha, 88 in Gujrat and 42 in Chiniot.

The minister was furnishing a statement and replies to the lawmakers’ written and verbal queries during the Question Hour session in the assembly.

As for the steps taken by the Sindh government to control AIDS in the province, she said diagnostic labs at the Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital, Karachi, and the CMCH Hospital, Larkana, were established as provincial referral labs.

Answering a question asked by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf member Khurram Sher Zaman, Dr Pechuho said that viral load testing was the key intervention to monitor the treatment response in HIV/AIDS patients. “Such a free of cost testing service is being provided through the Aga Khan University Hospital to all patients of HIV/AIDS under a memorandum of understanding,” she said.

Replying to a supplementary question by Mr Zaman, she said the viral load testing of a patients cost Rs26,000, which was being paid through global funding.

Responding to another query of the PTI member, the minister said the HIV Treatment and Care Centre in Larkana had a sufficient number of kits for blood screening of HIV. Besides, she said, the blood screening kits were also available at all district headquarters hospital in the province.

Dr Imran Shah of the PTI said that though there was no cure for HIV, if diagnosed early and treated properly, patients could live as long as any other person.

The minister said the anti-retroviral therapy (ART) — the use of HIV medicines to treat HIV infection — helped HIV patients live longer and reduced the risk of transmission.

In reply to a verbal question by Arif Mustafa Jatoi of the Grand Democratic Alliance, she said 8,856 of the over 11,000 HIV patients in the province were being treated through ART.

Answering another question by Mr Zaman, the minister said the dialysis machines were not the source of HIV infection because they had auto disinfection mechanism with hot sensing and solution rinsing. “Moreover, HIV is a heat-labile virus which usually is killed at 80-85 degrees centigrade, while dialysis machines have the heating temperature above that level,” she added.

The minister said the provincial government had taken effective steps for the disposal of hospital waste, which was one of the sources of infections.

She said hospital waste of private concerns, including clinics, was not being disposed of properly. “It was being recycled and the provincial government had launched a crackdown on those involved in the activity,” she added.

In reply to a supplementary question asked by Pakistan Peoples Party’s member Kulsoom Chandio, the minister said blood screening of over 30,000 people had been conducted across the province and of them 1,002, including 810 children, were found HIV positive.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2019