Upsurge in AIDS puts question mark on priorities

Whether it is because of the political uncertainty or just a blatant disregard for the issue, the Punjab government and the provincial health department are yet to wake up to the crisis of rapidly increasing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases.

Presently, as per health department sources, there are about 37,000 AIDS patients across the province, out of which around 17,000 are undergoing treatment in various hospitals in Punjab. However, independent sources are of the view that the actual number of patients is well above the 100,000 mark; and that the provincial health department does not want to acknowledge this reality because of its lack of efforts to combat the spread of the disease.

While health department sources did not confirm the unofficial numbers, they did confide to The Express Tribune that the administration had neither conducted screening tests to locate new patients nor had they campaigned to raise awareness about the disease.

“Therefore, it is not hard to believe that the number of patients has increased drastically,” said an official privy to the matter. The provincial government’s lack of attention towards the rise in cases can also be gauged from the fact that six different people headed the Punjab AIDS Control Program (PACP) in 2022.

Dr Faisal Masood was appointed as Project Director in March of 2022 but was let go merely five months later and was replaced with Dr Awais Gohar.

However, Dr Gohar did not manage to last a long time either and Amir Mufti was appointed in his place. It is pertinent to mention that Mufti did not even last a whole day in office and was replaced with Adeel Hashmi within the span of 24 hours.

Hashmi, the fourth appointment of the year, lasted 4 days in office before making way for Ajabullah Bhutto. However, the game of musical chairs was not over, as a month later, Bhutto made way for the sixth and final appointment of the year Dr Muhammad

Farooq, who presently heads the PACP. It is worthwhile to mention that the PACP has been allocated over Rs 2.3 billion for a period spanning seven years - from 2016 to 2023. Out of the total allocation the programme has spent nearly Rs 1.45 billion, as per officials who work at the PACP.

However, the officials were of the view that despite the spending the programme has not managed to curb the spread of AIDS. “Now the provincial Minister for Primary and Secondary Health Care has taken strict notice regarding the performance of the PACP and expressed his lack of confidence. However, the supervision of the programme is the responsibility of the minister himself but this responsibility has been ignored over the past few months,” an official of the health department told The Express Tribune, under condition of anonymity.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2023.