Pakistani villagers wait outside a hospital to be screened for HIV in the southern province of Sindh. Photograph: Fareed Khan/AP

A doctor in Pakistan has been arrested after knowingly spread the HIV virus

Muzaffar Ghangharo was arrested this month after an outbreak in Larkana, Southern Pakistan. Ghangharo has Aids and infected his patients in early April. More than 400 children and adults tested are positive for HIV. The authorities are trying to investigate whether Ghangharo intentionally infected his patients.

According to the head of the Aids control program in Sindh province, Sikandar Memon, 410 children and 100 adults along with other 13,800 people from Larkana are tested positive for HIV. Many parents are in great pain, knowing that their child has positive HIV.

Rehmat Bibi, the mother of Ali Raza, 10, said nothing seemed unusual when they visited the doctor for prescribed paracetamol for Raza’s fever. But she heard from her neighborhood that several children who visited the doctor with a fever had tested positive for HIV, so she took Raza to a hospital for a medical test where Raza was confirmed positive for the virus.

It was heartbreaking to know that her children, as well as the other 500 people who are mostly children, contracted with HIV at such a young age. All of the family members were also tested for the virus but only Raza’s result was positive.

There are more than 23,000 HIV cases that are registered at Pakistan’s health ministry. The virus is usually spread by using unsterilized syringes.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/17/pakistan-doctor-held-after-400-children-diagnosed-with-hiv