Islamabad, Pakistan – Not less than 130 individuals, most of them kids, have examined HIV-positive in reference to an outbreak at a government-run hospital in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest metropolis, with officers including that the quantity has risen sharply in current weeks.
Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani mentioned earlier this week that greater than 10,500 individuals have been screened in and round Kulsum Bai Valika (KBV) Hospital, a Sindh Workers’ Social Safety Establishment (SESSI) run facility, the place 120 examined constructive.
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A separate screening drive at one other SESSI facility in Karachi’s Landhi space recognized 10 extra instances.
SESSI is an autonomous provincial organisation that gives healthcare, medical services and monetary help to industrial and industrial staff and their dependants throughout Sindh.
The disaster at KBV Hospital first got here to public consideration in November 2025, when residents of Karachi’s SITE City observed a cluster of infections amongst kids handled there.
Officers, nevertheless, hint the outbreak to October 2025, when the primary six HIV-positive instances have been reported to the provincial well being division.
So what occurred, what prompted the outbreak, and why does Sindh proceed to witness such episodes?
What has occurred this month?
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was briefed on July 14 that two inside inquiries had discovered critical lapses, together with poor adherence to an infection prevention protocols, insufficient use of protecting tools and improper dealing with of single-use syringes.
The primary inquiry, submitted in November final yr, recognized 16 HIV-positive kids, all linked to the KBV’s paediatrics division.
A second, extra complete inquiry, submitted to the provincial ombudsman on June 19, confirmed 78 infections and 6 deaths, holding named hospital workers accountable for administrative and supervisory failures.
The quantity has since elevated, with the most recent infections confirmed on the SESSI services.
Minister Ghani mentioned all instances had been traced to publicity earlier than October 2025 and that screening would proceed “regardless of fears that extra instances might emerge”.
Thirty-seven medical doctors and hospital workers have been issued show-cause notices on July 3 and given 14 days to reply.
Ghani mentioned prison instances and dismissals would comply with for these discovered accountable. Requested about his personal accountability, he mentioned he had “accepted oblique accountability” and wouldn’t object to resigning if it helped resolve the disaster.
Is Sindh’s outbreak an remoted case?
Responding to questions after a Sindh Excessive Courtroom petition alleged the outbreak stemmed from reused syringes, Ghani advised reporters on July 4 that the infections weren’t brought on by syringe reuse. He argued that KBV Hospital makes use of auto-disable syringes that can not be reused.
The official inquiries, nevertheless, pointed to a broader breakdown in an infection prevention, citing failures that included poor adherence to security protocols, insufficient use of protecting tools and improper dealing with of single-use syringes.
The petition earlier than the Sindh Excessive Courtroom alleges the variety of infections is considerably greater than formally acknowledged.
This isn’t the primary giant HIV outbreak reported in Sindh.
Final December, the World Well being Group (WHO) and UNAIDS recognized the disaster in Pakistan as one of many fastest-growing HIV epidemics within the WHO Jap Mediterranean Area, comprising of 21 nations, with annual infections rising 200 % over 15 years, from 16,000 in 2010 to 48,000 in 2024.
In a joint World AIDS Day assertion issued on December 1, the businesses estimated that about 350,000 individuals in Pakistan live with HIV, with almost 80 % unaware of their standing.
The assertion additionally famous that HIV infections amongst kids aged 0 to 14 elevated from 530 in 2010 to 1,800 in 2023.
Solely 38 % of youngsters residing with HIV are receiving therapy, whereas simply 14 % of pregnant girls requiring remedy to stop mother-to-child transmission obtain it.
In June, physicians writing in British medical journal The Lancet HIV argued that Pakistan’s epidemic is now pushed “largely, by the health-care system itself”, pointing to repeated outbreaks linked to unsafe medical practices.
That evaluation, nevertheless, stays inconclusive.
Whereas repeated outbreaks have highlighted unsafe medical practices, researchers say Pakistan additionally lacks complete surveillance to find out what number of HIV infections nationwide originate in healthcare settings in contrast with sexual transmission, mother-to-child transmission or intravenous drug use.
Syed Faisal Mahmood, professor of infectious illnesses at Aga Khan College Hospital in Karachi, urged warning.
“At this cut-off date, it’s unimaginable to say which of the 2 are the dominant drivers of an infection,” he advised Al Jazeera.
For sexual transmission, mother-to-child transmission and intravenous drug use, he mentioned, “the numbers are considerably extra dependable, as a result of a substantial amount of work has been carried out” by way of established surveillance.
“There isn’t any systematic surveillance how many individuals have acquired HIV from visiting clinics, hospitals, or casual care suppliers,” he mentioned.
The sample extends past KBV Hospital.
Three different hospitals in Karachi have additionally reported growing numbers of paediatric HIV sufferers, together with one facility the place admissions rose from 10 instances in 2024 to 70 in 2025.
The Pakistan Medical Affiliation warned in April that 329 of the 894 HIV instances recorded in Sindh through the first quarter of 2026 concerned kids, describing the figures as “merely the tip of the iceberg”.
For Mahmood, these outbreaks level to a wider downside.
“For many people working on this subject, it is a systemic downside,” he mentioned. “It’s not linked to anyone hospital or healthcare system. Poor injection security protocols are pervasive all through the whole nation and throughout all ranges of healthcare.”
He added that kids aren’t the one victims, pointing to outbreaks in dialysis centres linked to unsafe blood transfusions.
Pakistan additionally has one of many world’s highest hepatitis C burdens, he mentioned, “pushed by the identical mechanism and the identical underlying causes” because the HIV instances now rising.
What’s being carried out?
The Sindh Excessive Courtroom has given the provincial authorities till July 20 to answer a petition alleging violations of provincial legal guidelines governing the regulation and disposal of syringes.
On the federal degree, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered a nationwide ban on substandard syringes on July 3.
The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan later introduced that retail gross sales of typical syringes that may be reused, in contrast to auto-disable syringes that block or break the plunger after one use, can be banned from January 2027.
Federal Well being Minister Mustafa Kamal has additionally mentioned HIV screening will turn out to be necessary earlier than surgical procedure nationwide, whereas cautioning in opposition to describing the scenario as a broader “epidemic”.
In the meantime, the Sindh authorities has authorised a 2 billion-rupee ($7.2m) endowment fund for the long-term care of affected kids, alongside an isolation ward and a third-party audit of KBV Hospital’s procurement and an infection management programs after the provincial ombudsman took discover of the case.
Al Jazeera contacted Sindh Well being Division officers for remark however didn’t obtain a response.
Mahmood, nevertheless, mentioned measures akin to banning syringes deal with solely a part of the issue.
About 60 % of healthcare in Pakistan is delivered by the personal sector, which he mentioned is far tougher to control.
“The personal sector is significantly harder to control. It encompasses not simply hospitals but in addition clinics, dispensaries and comparable services, that are nominally overseen by healthcare commissions that merely do not need the manpower to examine all of them,” he mentioned.
Mahmood mentioned unsafe injections stay deeply embedded in Pakistan’s healthcare tradition, pushed not solely by weak regulation but in addition by affected person expectations.
“Sufferers coming to a physician anticipate an injection as a result of they imagine it is going to make them recuperate sooner, and healthcare staff usually really feel the identical approach,” he mentioned. “It’s, in some ways, an ideal storm: extra injections being given, these injections going largely unregulated, restricted data of protected injection apply, no surveillance on whether or not injections are being administered appropriately, and no penalties for unsafe apply.”
