‘Number of AIDS patients in Dera Ghazi Khan on the rise’

CM urges NGOs to help govt raise awareness regarding preventative measures

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

“I was diagnosed with an HIV infection while I was working in the UAE and sent back to Pakistan. Initially, I was terrified of registering for treatment,” Umar Asim*, a patient registered with the Punjab AIDS Control Programme in Dera Ghazi Khan says. 

After undergoing treatment, Asim says, he had realised that there was nothing to be afraid of. “The tests, medicines and the treatment are free of cost…I would never have been able to afford them on my own.”



Doctors at the Dera Ghazi Khan district headquarters hospital say there are around 15,000 HIV/AIDS patients in south Punjab districts. Dera Ghazi Khan alone has 1,250 patients registered with the Punjab AIDS Control Programme and, doctors say, the number of unregistered patients in the district may be over 7,000.

“There has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of HIV/AIDS patients reported last year,” AIDS control centre in charge Dr Ismail Saqlain says. “And the number of patients is on the rise,” he adds.

He says the reason behind the increase was a lack of awareness. There are around 170 HIV/AIDS patients living in Dera Ghazi Khan’s rural areas Rukni, Kohlu and Barkhan among others, he says. Of them, 65 people have been registered with the programme but more than 30 patients died this year because of lack of access to treatment, Saqlain says.

“Their families held demonstrations requesting the government to set up treatment facilities at the district and tehsil level.”



He says a patient’s treatment can cost up to Rs80,000 a month. “We are required to protect patients’ identity and the screening test is carried out for free.”

Of the 1,250 patients registered with the Punjab AIDS Control Programme, 34 have also been diagnosed with tuberculosis. Saqlain says 46 per cent of the patients are women. “We also have 34 children and a transgender patient.” Most of the patients who visit the centre receive counselling alongside the treatment. The Punjab AIDS Control Programme operates one treatment facility in south Punjab. Apart from Dr Saqlain, the centre has two women doctors Dr Tayyaba and Dr Sumaira Badar, VCT centres in-charge Syed Ali Asghar Gardaizi and case in charge Hammad Raza. Psychiatrist Rehmat Raza Khosa, president of Nai Umeed, an NGO working with AIDS patients, says most of the patients registered in the Dera Ghazi Khan area had worked in Middle Eastern countries at one point and had been deported because they were carrying the disease.

He stresses the need for a comprehensive policy to eradicate the menace.

Saqlain says they had recently registered a seven-month pregnant woman for treatment of an HIV infection. She was diagnosed with the virus this year. Her husband, who worked in Saudi Arabia, had stayed with her for four months and had left.



Saqlain says the situation could improve if people arriving from other countries could be screened for HIV/AIDS at the airport. “It takes 15 minutes and could go a long way in ameliorating the issue.”

He says those testing positive for the virus could register right away.

Shahbaz stresses need to raise awareness

In a press statement in connection with World AIDS Day, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said collective efforts were needed to control AIDS incidence in the Punjab. He said the government was spending a considerable amount on raising awareness regarding preventive measures. “We are also implementing the UN’s AIDS Control Programme.”

He said the government had set up medical centres to provide advisory, diagnostic and treatment facilities for AIDS free of cost.



The chief minister urged patients to contact treatment centres and not to conceal their ailment.  “There is a need to promote awareness regarding preventive measures. We expect non-government organisations to help the government in controlling AIDS.”

Sharif said blood screening prior to conducting blood transfusions had been made compulsory in the province.

*The patients’ names has been changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2015.