ISLAMABAD: The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) has assured the Sindh government that an uninterrupted supply of HIV testing kits and medicines for Larkana district will be ensured.

“We have already supplied around 3,000 HIV testing kits to test possible suspects in Larkana district as well as medicines and assured the Sindh government that all the supplies have been arranged and will be dispatched as soon as we get the demand,” NACP manager Dr Baseer Achakzai said while talking to Dawn.

He said that there were 10 blood banks in Larkana district and he had learnt that most of them did not follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for collecting and storing blood. “We hope that the provincial government will ensure implementation of the SOPs,” he added.

However, Dr Achakzai said, there was a good development as the provincial government had constituted a team — comprising around 25 experts from the Aga Khan University, Sindh Jinnah Medical University, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation and Dow University of Health Sciences — to look into the issue.

Probe launched to find out reasons behind the disease’s outbreak in district, says NACP manager

“Currently HIV is found in some segments of society, such as transgender persons and sex workers, and we have to ensure that it is not transferred to the masses,” the NACP manager said.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of National Health Services, the NACP along with Sindh health officials had started an investigation to find out the reasons behind the HIV outbreak in Larkana.

“A federal team along with Sindh officials is conducting screening of people for HIV in the affected areas. More than 4,100 people have been screened and 157 positive cases detected. Of the 157 affected people, 127 are children and 30 adults. The children are between the age of four months and eight years. Sixty-six HIV patients have been registered with the AIDS Treatment Centre in Larkana to receive treatment and care.

‘‘The federal government will ensure supply of drugs for treatment of these patients. Spouses of HIV-positive adults and parents of HIV-positive children are also being screened,” the statement says.

The federal government in liaison with the United Nations agencies is conducting a situational analysis in the field and will suggest short- and long-term recommendations as countermeasures for the outbreak, the statement concludes.

Read: HIV cases in Larkana put a question mark on Sindh’s healthcare system

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2019