Health Officials have reported that two treatment and diagnostic centers in Islamabad are seeing an average of 50 new HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) cases each month.
This was disclosed during a briefing given to the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) in a meeting chaired by Senator Humayun Mohmand at Parliament House on Tuesday.
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Special Secretary Mirza Nasiruddin Mashhood informed the Senate body that efforts were being made to screen the blood transfusion procedures as it was one of the main sources of HIV in Pakistan. “Last year, around 26,000 Pakistanis were deported from different countries and they were allowed to enter the country without prior screening. As a number of them can be infected with HIV so there is a need to screen all deportees,” he added.
In the past seven months, 331 new patients have been diagnosed, many of whom are from Rawalpindi and other cities in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Azad Kashmir.
The twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have the highest number of HIV patients, with additional cases reported in cities such as Abbottabad, Mansehra, Haripur, Gujrat, Lahore, Gujranwala, Narowal, Chakwal, Mandi Bahauddin, Minwali, Sargodha Kotli, Bagh, and Ponch.
Reports reveal that approximately 46 new patients tested positive for HIV in October 2022, 48 in November, 40 in December, 40 in January 2023, 72 in February, 44 in March, and 35 in April 2023.
The National Aids Control Program has established a second center at the Federal Government Poly Clinic due to the high number of patients seeking HIV treatment at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). However, since this center is relatively new, only a few HIV patients have visited it so far.
Global Fund, an international donor agency, has already provided Pakistan with more than $1.1 billion to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. It has now provided 1,422 laptops to the country for a dashboard, having data regarding these three diseases.
NHS Ministry Joint Secretary Mustafa Jamal Kazi said that an app will be launched just like the World Health Organisation, which would make it possible to track and monitor relevant statistics on a dedicated dashboard.
“We have received 1,422 laptops which are being distributed among programme managers across the country. All data of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will be uploaded to the dashboard and will be visible to all,” he said. However, a session of 15 days would be held to train the managers to prepare them to handle the dashboard and laptops.
