LARKANA has great significance in the country’s political imagination. As the birthplace of the founder of Pakistan’s (now) third-most powerful political party, it has remained its stronghold for decades. But despite its political and historical significance, it seems to have been accorded low priority, with consistently poor socioeconomic indicators. The recent HIV/AIDS crisis in Larkana should be seen as a wakeup call for the government of Sindh. Out of the 93 patients who were screened, 67 are children. There are several reasons responsible for the spread of the virus, including faulty blood transfusions, medical malpractice and unsafe sexual practices — and yet it continues to be a highly taboo subject. Sufferers are ashamed to talk about their ailment or seek help, and they may find themselves ostracised at a time they need the most attention. As new cases keep being reported and the number of HIV sufferers rises following blood screenings by the recently implemented Sindh AIDS Control Programme, there is a need for an urgent inquiry into the matter. An FIR has been registered against one ‘doctor’ by the Ratodero police. Some have called him a ‘quack’, but his credentials are yet to be ascertained. At this point, he has been suspected of using a single syringe and cannula on multiple patients, causing the spread of the disease in the village. Shockingly, the ‘doctor’ himself is said to be suffering from the deadly virus and has denied any deliberate involvement in the spread of the disease. It is important to remember that the investigation is still in its preliminary stages. Similarly, 73 cases of HIV have been reported from Hyderabad between January and March this year following blood screenings by the Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiative. These figures are alarming, and the importance of large-scale province-wide blood screenings cannot be understated.

One cannot help but wonder where the provincial government has been all this time. The PPP needs to divert its attention away from Islamabad and back to its constituents. The party has always presented itself as the voice of the poor, the weak, the marginalised and downtrodden, but the reality on the ground says otherwise. Until the PPP focuses on the health, education and development of Sindh, it will be pushed into oblivion and irrelevance — regardless of how powerful its politicians’ speeches are, or how eloquent their rhetoric.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2019