Dangerous syringes

INNOCENCE stands overwhelmed by another health emergency. The HIV crisis, beyond surging statistics — over 350,000 people live with the virus — has reached children and low-risk persons who contracted the disease through the very healthcare system meant to keep them safe. The Sindh High Court has directed the provincial health secretary and police chief to submit detailed accounts of the investigation regarding the HIV eruption at Karachi’s Kulsoom Bai Valika Hospital in November. Apparently caused by the reuse of infected syringes and medical oversight, the fiasco affected over 200 children, and resulted in several preventable deaths. Two failures have driven the ‘man-made epidemic’: a broken infection control framework, and syringe reuse even though conventional disposable syringes were banned in 2021. Outbreaks at hospitals in Karachi, Larkana, Multan and Taunsa now occur with troubling frequency. In some instances, even one-year olds have been diagnosed with HIV following clinic visits. Sindh has laws aplenty. Yet, the Sindh Regulation and Control of Disposable Syringes Act, 2010, is poorly implemented, and accountability missing.

Meanwhile, the response has been knee-jerk. In another bid to curtail the spread of contagious infections, including HIV and hepatitis C, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has imposed a ban on the production and use of substandard syringes in the country, ordering action against those found guilty of negligence. Will these instructions be followed? Earlier, the Pakistan Medical Association had warned against the shocking presence of wrongly marked ‘auto-disabled’ syringes. Without a national databank, transparency and evaluations by specialists, infection control protocols will fail: specifically, sterilisation, screened blood, single-use syringes, skilled staff, disease monitoring and zero tolerance for non-compliance. Over the last two decades, HIV infections have spiked by nearly 200pc. It is time the curtain came down on this theatre of misery.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2026

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