LARKANA: The ongoing blood screenings of the people visiting Ratodero Taluka Hospital for HIV/AIDS continued on Wednesday, when the 465 persons underwent the process and 21 of them tested HIV-positive. Out of the 21 persons, two were adult women and 19 children (12 boys and seven girls).

The camp, set up 23 days back under the Sindh AIDS Control Programme (SACP), would continue its work, said Dr Shah Mohammed Shaikh, an HIV physician posted at the Karachi Civil Hospital currently deputed at the taluka hospital.

“The flow of people seeking blood screening is gradually slowing down. The teams at five counters are handling people coming from Ratodero town and its periphery,” he said. “HIV-positive cases are referred to the AIDS treatment centre at the Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana (CMCH).”

When this correspondent visited the hospital, a few people were seen at the counter.

Six volunteer doctors from the CMCH were also deputed to assist the five teams. A doctor and technician along with two women health workers were looking after the counter. It is suspected that the growing number of children with HIV virus may have been infected after getting treatment from paediatricians practising in and around Ratodero.

SACP Project Manager Dr Sikandar Memon informed this correspondent on Wednesday that so far blood screening of 21,554 persons had been carried out at the taluka hospital and at rural and basic health facilities. Of them, 638 people were found to be HIV-positive. Among them, 116 were adults and 522 children.

The treatment centre established at CMCH children unit had so far registered 348 HIV-positive cases (children) and treatment of 143 was started, said Dr Safdar Abbasi.

Dr Imran Arbani, who was the first to report spread of HIV in Ratodero, told Dawn on Wednesday that he was receiving threats.

Himath Ali Jalbani, who had initiated Ratodero Bachayo Tahreek (Save Ratodero campaign), talking to this reporter alleged that the spread was the result of highly risky treatment the children had been receiving at private clinics in Ratodero. He suspected that the SACP was not giving the actual figures of the cases. “It just talked about the business of recycled syringes,” he added.

Sources in the SACP said a team of stakeholders, including Unicef, along with the federal health minister, would be arriving in Ratodero on Thursday to assess the situation. The WHO country head arrived in the town on Wednesday, the sources said.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2019