The number continues to rise as more people in that forsaken town are being tested.
The last time you were here, the number of infected was around 500. Now it's pushing close to 1,000.
An HIV Outbreak Hit One Of Pakistan’s Poorest Districts — And Infected Over 700 Children
An HIV-positive doctor is accused of spreading the disease to hundreds of unsuspecting patients, but experts warn a crumbling health care system is to blame.
By Sumaira Jajja | Jul 26, 2019
Deep in southeast Pakistan, in Sindh province, is Larkana District. Sitting along the historic Indus River, Larkana is known as the “city of holy Alams” — or “holy shrines.” It’s perhaps most famous for housing Mohenjo Daro, an archeological site that dates back to 2500 B.C. and is considered one of the world’s oldest major cities. It’s also the hometown of one of Pakistan’s most powerful political dynasties — the Bhutto family — which has produced two prime ministers and continues to dominate large sections of the country’s political scene. Recently, however, Larkana district has made headlines for a much darker reason: an HIV outbreak that has affected over 950 people, at least 784 of whom are children. The numbers continue to rise, as residents are still getting tested.
A 30-minute drive from Larkana’s main city will bring you to Ratodero, a small, multi-ethnic town largely comprised of the lowest socio-economic segments of the country. The poverty-stricken area is represented in the National Assembly by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, an Oxford graduate and the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Ratodero is in panic mode: hundreds of parents were regular visitors of the clinic of an HIV-positive doctor who is accused of spreading the infection to thousands of unsuspecting men, women and children.
As of this filing, 32,685 people had been screened, with 957 of them testing positive for HIV, according to the director general of Sindh Health Services. The outbreak is unprecedented because it involves the general public — predominantly young children — who do not fall under the high-risk group for the deadly viral infection. Moreover, many of the children who tested positive do not have HIV-positive parents.
Charging 30 Pakistani rupees (or $0.18 USD) per patient, the accused doctor was the number one choice for many parents because he “paid attention to their children” and — perhaps more importantly — was “not expensive.” Anemia, pneumonia, diarrhea, persistent fever and cough were just some of the ailments that took the poor and, in some cases, well-to-do patients to him. Moreover, he was the only doctor listed as a pediatrician at Ratodero’s main hospital.
It took seven deaths — the youngest victim just seven months old — and a brave father’s use of social media to highlight Ratodero’s HIV/AIDS outbreak. What has happened in Larkana has since grabbed the attention of national and international media. The doctor was arrested, and a technical team submitted a detailed report to federal investigators in charge of the case.
A screening camp in Ratodero. HIV test kits, with results available within 30 minutes, are administered free of charge.
The drive to get Larkana tested
An HIV-screening camp has been set up in Larkana’s dusty, minimally-equipped and understaffed Taluka Headquarter Hospital. Hundreds of people are in line to get voluntarily tested after reports of the outbreak made national news. The Sindh AIDS Control Program, or SACP, undertook a mobilization campaign with the help of provincial health departments and local representatives of political parties to get people tested. HIV test kits, with results available in under 30 minutes, are administered free of charge.
A young father stands clutching the lab report of his two-year-old son in one hand and protectively holding the boy in the other, and looking visibly upset. “Everyone from my village is getting tested and I thought of getting my son tested, too,” he says. “I had taken my son to the same doctor. Since his arrest I have been very upset and took my son for an HIV test.” The test, taken at the lab of a nonprofit working with local authorities, confirmed the boy was HIV-positive. “I want to reconfirm this,” he says. After an agonizing wait of some 40 minutes, the test also comes back positive. The staff guides him to take his son to Larkana’s main city, assuring him the boy would be fine once treatment begins. “He will go on to have a wife and kids,” says a volunteer, trying to reassure the father.
Hussain, a barber and a father of nine, says his five-year-old son tested positive for HIV. “I found out some seven months ago after I took my wife and son to the doctor’s. The two had been ill for months,” he says. His wife was given a blood transfusion. The man who donated his blood was a family acquaintance.
After months of illness, his wife tested positive for HIV. “[The doctor] told me to find the man who donated the blood, saying his life may be in danger. When we went to his house, we found out he had passed away last year due to a protracted illness.” Since then, the deceased’s family has been tested for the infection. They were safe from the life-threatening disease but not from community backlash.
Meanwhile, Hussain’s test came back negative. Though his family never visited the accused doctor, Hussain says the government must take notice and hold everyone involved accountable, including blood banks.
Over a dozen parents interviewed at various health facilities and at the screening camp at the hospital in Ratodero said they never took their children to the accused doctor. The interviews were also corroborated by health care providers at the screening camps.
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