Pakistan: 'Rogue doctor' gives hundreds of people HIV with contaminated needle

'Rogue doctor' gives hundreds of people HIV with contaminated needle

'We are helpless. I have other children and I am afraid they might catch the disease'

More than 500 people have tested positive for HIV in southern Pakistan in an outbreak that local officials have blamed on a rogue paediatrician.

Almost 14,000 individuals have now been screened in the district outside Larkanawhere the sudden spike in HIV incidence was first detected, said Dr Sikandar Memon, the regional coordinator of the Aids Control Programme.

Of those testing positive, 410 are children, Dr Memon told Pakistani newspaper Dawn. He said that another 29 patients tested positive in the most recent round of blood screening on Wednesday at the main hospital in Rato Dero, 25km outside Larkana, seen as the centre of the epidemic.

A doctor accused of infecting his patients through repeated use of a single, contaminated syringe remains in custody since the outbreak was first reported in late April. Dr Muzaffar Ghangharo, who officials said is himself living with HIV, has been charged but denies the allegations.

Authorities are also not ruling out the possibility that the outbreak is the result of gross, widespread negligence in a region which has a high prevalence of shady medical practices. 

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