PHOTO: REUTERS
RATODERO: Patients of HIV continue to be deprived of proper test and treatment facilities in Ratodero, despite the number of HIV cases registered in the region crossing the 1,200 mark, as another patient, out of the 38 screened, tested positive for the disease on Saturday.
According to figures shared by the Sindh AIDS Control Programme, so far, 37,795 people have been tested for HIV at the screening camp established at Ratodero's taluka headquarter hospital, since April 25, 2019. Of them, 1,204 were found to be carrying the virus - a figure which sounds alarm bells and calls for immediate measures to curb the epidemic.
Out of the people who have tested positive for HIV, 249 are adults, comprising 66 males and 183 females. The remaining 955 persons afflicted with the virus are children, comprising 591 males and 364 females.
Speaking on the issue, Dr Imran Ali Arbani, a local doctor who broke the news of HIV outbreak in the area at the very outset of the crisis, outlined the measures the provincial government needed to take on an urgent basis to facilitate HIV patients.
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According to Dr Arbani, barbers, illegal laboratories, malpractices in operation theatres and doctors and quacks have led to the spread of the virus. These illegal businesses and malpractices "need to be wiped out with an iron fist," he stressed.
He said that factors contributing to the transmission of the disease have not been eliminated and pointed out that even goldsmiths continued to pierce ears and noses in the same old manner [which carried the risk of HIV transmission]. Dr Arbani also attributed to the reemergence of the pandemic to drug abuse, alleging that a non-governmental organisation has been supplying syringes to drug addicts daily, for free.
Expressing concern over the slow screening process, he said that Ratodero has a population of 330,000, of which only 10% has been screened for HIV. It is imperative to detect the total number of cases so that a proper strategy can be devised to deal with the problem, he added. "Otherwise it would be impossible to provide treatment to all the patients and curb the spread of the disease," he explained.
Dr Arbani claimed the government was afraid of [dealing with] the massive number of cases that would emerge if it launched a wide-scale screening campaign.
He said screening for CD-4 count, polymerase chain reaction tests and viral load tests are an essential part of HIV screening and treatment process, but these facilities are unavailable in Ratodero. "Here, [in Ratodero] patients are not being provided with the same treatment as is available elsewhere in the world," he said, adding that it includes the administration of anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal drugs. Whereas in Ratodero, HIV patients are only treated through anti-retroviral therapy, he lamented.
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Shedding light on the gravity of the situation, he said that of the two types of HIV, HIV-1 and HIV-2, Ratodero was gripped by HIV-1, which is more lethal, often found prevalent in African countries.
Dr Arbani also complained about "untrained doctors" ignoring monitoring comorbidity- one or more conditions occurring at the same time as the primary disease- in HIV patients. He said that many affected persons had been displaced and shifted to Ratodero from their villages, in the aftermath of the HIV outbreak, and they were facing stigma and discriminatory behaviour. The problem needs to be addressed quickly, a mass awareness campaign needs to be launched and affected persons are to be provided financial aid, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2019.
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