BAHAWALNAGAR: The citizens are concerned about the rapid increase in the number of cases of HIV/AIDS with 24 cases reported in the district recently.

The health department confirmed 15 prisoners testing positive at the district jail and nine citizens also testing positive for the virus on Monday.

The Bahawalnagar Health Department identified 24 patients of AIDS in the last eight months. Out of these, 10 have been identified in the last two months.

District Officer Health Dr Waheed Afsar Bajwa said 15 of the patients were prisoners of the Bahawalnagar District Jail whereas nine others citizens were also diagnosed with AIDS. He said those diagnosed with the deadly disease were between the ages of 20 and 30 years and one patient was a woman. Dawn has acquired the list of patients diagnosed with AIDS.

Dr Waheed said the surgical instruments being used by quacks were the cause of the reported cases besides the reuse of disposable syringes. He said measures were being undertaken to eradicate the disease.

Meanwhile, according to the sources, the prisoners, infected with the disease, had not been separated from the rest of the prison population, causing a concern for the well-being of other inmates.

Jail Superintendent Muhammad Zubair Cheema refuted the claims that any of the inmates had AIDS. He said according to the results of blood sampling of prisoners, no prisoner was found infected with AIDS. He, however, said some tests were yet to be conducted for hepatitis and AIDS. He said according to the notification of the Punjab government, prisoners were held separately until screening for hepatitis and AIDS was conducted.

It is pertinent to mention here that the health department has not taken steps despite surfacing of 24 cases of AIDS and claims regarding eradication of the disease have been limited just to the official files of the department.

Health (CEO) Dr Waseem told Dawn that no separate ward was established for the AIDS patients yet because those diagnosed were at the early stages of the disease and did not require hospitalisation. He said no patient had been identified so far who needed to be admitted to a hospital.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2019