HIV uptick

Hospitals are meant to be places of cure, not corridors where life-altering infections are silently passed on. The surge in paediatric HIV cases across Karachi strips away any illusion that this is an isolated medical anomaly. It is, instead, the consequence of a healthcare system that continues to tolerate unsafe practices despite knowing their cost.

Figures emerging from the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital and Research Centre and Indus Hospital point to a disturbing escalation. Admissions of HIV-positive children have multiplied within a year, with a significant number under the age of five. The pattern of transmission is even more alarming. Only a small fraction of these children were born to HIV-positive mothers, while a clear majority have gotten it through healthcare-related exposure at hospitals, primarily through reusable syringes. Unsafe practices have long persisted, often enabled by weak oversight and, at times, by a troubling preference for injections and drips over safer oral medication. Memories of the Ratodero HIV outbreak should have ensured that such negligence never resurfaced. That tragedy exposed deep cracks in infection control, particularly in Sindh. Committees were formed, recommendations were drafted and assurances were made. What is now unfolding suggests that those measures were neither sustained nor taken seriously enough to prevent recurrence.

An immediate and independent investigation into the concerned hospitals must go beyond surface-level inquiries and examine procurement chains, sterilisation protocols, disposal mechanisms and blood screening systems. Containment efforts must run in parallel. Widespread screening, especially of children who may have been exposed through medical procedures, is essential. Contact tracing and long-term treatment support will be critical in limiting further spread and managing existing cases. Pakistan's long struggle with hepatitis B and C has already demonstrated how quickly infections spread when basic safeguards are ignored. The rise in HIV cases follows the same path, only with more severe and irreversible consequences.