Days after a scandal related to the spread of HIV surfaced in Larkana, the city of Thatta has also come under the spotlight for a rise in cases.
Focal person of HIV/AIDS Control Programme in Thatta Dr Umme Farwa told Dawn that two females and three males found to be affected by the virus have been sent to Karachi for further evaluation and confirmation.
She said that out of them, one later tested negative in Karachi, while two of them did not travel to Karachi citing personal reasons. The fifth one fled back to Thatta without seeking medical help.
Dr Umme Farwa contacted the person who had fled and asked him the reason for it, to which he said that he got scared of the treatment procedure in Karachi and decided that it would be better to go back.
Larkana HIV outbreak
As many as 52 more people, 44 among them children, were found HIV positive out of 1,984 people who reported at a blood screening camp in Ratodero taluka hospital on Monday.
Last month, a doctor suffering from AIDS in Larkana, Dr Muzaffar Ghanghar, was accused of having infected others in the district.
The authorities probed the matter after HIV-positive cases increased at an alarming rate in the district. 39 cases of HIV were detected in the district, of which 22 were children, including those as young as 16-months-old.
Ghanghar, however, maintains that he was not aware of his condition and was not involved in the spread of the disease. “If I was aware of my condition, I would have sought treatment. The Sindh Healthcare Commission is conspiring against me.”
Focal person of HIV/AIDS Control Programme in Thatta Dr Umme Farwa told Dawn that two females and three males found to be affected by the virus have been sent to Karachi for further evaluation and confirmation.
She said that out of them, one later tested negative in Karachi, while two of them did not travel to Karachi citing personal reasons. The fifth one fled back to Thatta without seeking medical help.
Dr Umme Farwa contacted the person who had fled and asked him the reason for it, to which he said that he got scared of the treatment procedure in Karachi and decided that it would be better to go back.
Larkana HIV outbreak
As many as 52 more people, 44 among them children, were found HIV positive out of 1,984 people who reported at a blood screening camp in Ratodero taluka hospital on Monday.
Last month, a doctor suffering from AIDS in Larkana, Dr Muzaffar Ghanghar, was accused of having infected others in the district.
The authorities probed the matter after HIV-positive cases increased at an alarming rate in the district. 39 cases of HIV were detected in the district, of which 22 were children, including those as young as 16-months-old.
Ghanghar, however, maintains that he was not aware of his condition and was not involved in the spread of the disease. “If I was aware of my condition, I would have sought treatment. The Sindh Healthcare Commission is conspiring against me.”