A self-proclaimed doctor has been responsible for giving nearly 500 children HIV because he was using an infected needle.
The Pakistani doctor is one of around 600,000 fake medics who operate around the country and pose danger to those seeking cheap treatment.
According to the local reports, over 14,000 people were screened in Larkana after the HIV breakout. Out of them, over 400 children were tested positive for HIV.
Days after the testing, Aids Control Programme regional coordinator, Dr. Sikandar Memon, added that additional 29 patients were tested positive for the deadly disease.
Following the breakout, the authorities accused Dr. Muzaffar Ghangharo of spreading the disease and causing an epidemic after he used the same infected needle on hundreds of children.
According to the officials, Ghangharo, who also has HIV, has been in custody ever since April when the outbreak began. Despite strong evidence against him, however, the doctor denies all allegations.
“We are working on war footing to examine the suspects as well as those wishing to get themselves tested after a large number of cases were reported from Larkana and other districts,” Dr. Sikandar Memon explained.
“They are coming by the dozens,” he added, admitting they lack trained personnel and equipment to take care of the large influx of worried individuals.
“I curse the doctor who has caused all these children to be infected,” one angry resident, Nisar Ahmed, said after arriving at the makeshift clinic in search of medicine for his 1-year-old daughter who got infected with HIV.
“Who is she going to play with? And when she’s grown up, who would want to marry her?” another upset mum from a nearby village asked after her daughter became infected.
While Pakistan had long been deemed a low prevalence country when it comes to HIV, the illness has been spreading at an alarming rate, largely due to an increase of sex industry workers, fake medics, and drug users.
According to the data, approximately 20,000 HIV cases have been reported in Pakistan in 2017.
“According to some government reports, around 600,000 quack doctors are operating across the country and around 270,000 are practicing in the province of Sindh,” UNAIDS claimed in a statement.
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