LARKANA: The Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) Centre at Chandka Medical College (CMC) Children’s Hospital registered 73 new HIV-positive cases among children in June alone, with most patients belonging to different parts of Khairpur district, raising concerns over the growing burden on the facility and the shortage of healthcare staff.
Officials at the centre said around 20 follow-up patients visit the facility daily. They pointed out that the centre was functioning without a pharmacist and required additional junior doctors to cope with the increasing caseload.
The ART Centre operates under the Directorate of Communicable Disease Control (CDC). During a visit, Dawn observed that a portion of the ceiling plaster had fallen in the area where doctors and support staff perform their duties.
Prof Dr Shanti Lal, head of the Department of Paediatrics at CMC Children’s Hospital, said routine HIV screening in the hospital’s outpatient department had been introduced on Jan 7.
Concern raised over staff shortage, dilapidated condition of building
“We are maintaining data on HIV cases and coordinating closely with ART centres to ensure that every screened patient undergoes confirmatory testing and receives the required medicines,” he said.
According to hospital sources, HIV-positive children referred to the hospital range in age from five months to 14 years, while ART Centre officials said most of their patients are between five months and eight years old.
Prof Dr Shanti Lal and ART Centre officials agreed that mother-to-child (vertical) transmission of HIV had become almost negligible due to timely diagnosis and treatment.
Explaining the importance of early intervention, Prof Shanti Lal cited the case of a hospital employee who tested HIV-positive but, after prompt treatment, achieved an undetectable viral load. His newborn child also tested HIV-negative.
He said studies conducted by his department showed that boys accounted for 52 per cent of reported paediatric HIV cases and girls for 48pc.
Recalling the 2019 HIV outbreak in Ratodero, he said the infection had primarily affected children between the ages of two and five years, with contaminated blood identified as the principal route of transmission.
However, ART Centre sources said unsafe blood transfusions, weak surveillance, medical malpractice and the repeated use of syringes remained among the major factors contributing to HIV transmission.
Describing the situation as alarming, Prof Shanti Lal said the growing number of HIV-positive children represented “the tip of the iceberg” and called for stronger preventive measures and greater public awareness.
Despite the establishment of an ART Centre at Gambat on May 26 this year, HIV-positive children from Khairpur district continue to be referred to Larkana.
When contacted, Dr Rahim Bakhsh Bhatti, Director of the Pir Abdul Qadir Shah Jillani Institute of Medical Sciences, Gambat, said paediatric HIV services had not yet started because the lady doctor assigned to the centre was undergoing specialised training.
He said medicines had recently arrived at the facility and expressed hope that treatment for children would begin within a fortnight after completion of the training.
Dr Bhatti attributed the rising number of reported HIV cases in Khairpur largely to unsafe medical practices by unqualified practitioners operating in the kutcha areas along the Indus River. He also observed that the increase in screening had resulted in the detection of more cases.
Calling for strict action against quacks, he said social stigma also discouraged many families from disclosing HIV infections.
Meanwhile, Medical Superintendent of District Headquarters Hospital, Qambar, Dr Sartaj Jaj said an ART Centre had been established at the hospital but medicines and diagnostic kits were yet to arrive. Until the facility becomes fully operational, HIV-positive children from the district will continue to be referred to Larkana, further increasing the workload of the ART Centre there.
The human cost of the disease was reflected in the case of Rahib Ali Junejo, a labourer from Nazar Mohalla, Larkana, whose young son was recently diagnosed with HIV.
Speaking to Dawn at the ART Centre, he said he had exhausted all options before reaching the facility.
“I cannot afford medicines or travel to Karachi for my son’s treatment. Here, the doctors examined him, carried out the required tests and provided medicines free of cost,” he said.
Another mother from Dadu, whose HIV-positive child was admitted to the Nutrition Ward of CMC Children’s Hospital, said her baby had failed to gain weight despite receiving uninterrupted treatment.
Health experts stressed that expanding screening, ensuring safe blood transfusions, eliminating unsafe injection practices and strengthening ART facilities across Sindh were essential to preventing further spread of HIV among children. They also called for closer scrutiny of pathology laboratories to ensure mandatory screening of donated blood and stronger enforcement by the Sindh Safe Blood Transfusion Authority.
Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2026