Substandard syringe ban

The Prime Minister has finally taken notice of a public health crisis that has for far too long been allowed to fester behind hospital walls. His decision to personally intervene on the growing spread of HIV and hepatitis through unsafe medical practices and his directives to ban substandard syringes along with prosecuting those responsible for using illegal medical equipment is a welcome development.

However, Pakistan's problem has never been a shortage of directives. It has been the chronic failure to enforce them. Every major HIV outbreak over the past decade has exposed the same dangerous practices. From Ratodero in 2019 to Karachi's Valika Hospital, and more recently Taunsa, the victims have largely been children who entered hospitals seeking treatment for ordinary illnesses but instead contracted a lifelong infection. Investigations have repeatedly pointed towards the reuse of disposable syringes and poor infection-control measures. Each tragedy has been followed by promises of reform, only for another outbreak to emerge elsewhere, exposing the same institutional failures. That is why this cannot be treated merely as an issue of defective syringes. Pakistan already possesses laws regulating disposable syringes and agencies tasked with monitoring medical devices. Yet illegal products continue to find their way into hospitals and accountability is almost non-existent. Regulations carry little value when violators know that the chances of punishment are slim.

The government must also recognise that prevention requires more than enforcement after a crisis erupts. Every hospital, whether public or private, should undergo regular infection-control audits. Medical staff must receive mandatory training in safe injection practices and the DRAP must be empowered and held accountable for ensuring compliance. The PM deserves credit for finally placing this issue on the national agenda. But the measure of success will be whether Pakistan can ensure that no child ever again contracts HIV from the very healthcare system entrusted with saving lives.