–More than 1,000 HIV positive children face misery as Ratodero HIV controversy continues
LARKANA: The Rs1 billion endowment fund announced by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for HIV patients of Ratodero region have not been released despite lapse of a year, leaving the life of patients, particularly children, at stake, PPI learnt on Monday.
Talking to PPI, Sindh AIDS Control Programme (SACP) Provincial Program Manager Dr Saqib Ali Shaikh said that the endowment fund’s account for Ratodero had been opened and the endowment fund amount had also been ‘ensured and secured’ by the Health Department, but the release request was still pending as the process has paused due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Shaikh said that 16 HIV treatment centres were working in Sindh out of which four were established during the current fiscal year which includes Taluka Headquarter Hospital in Ratodero, Pediatric Hospital in Larkana, LUMHS ART Centre in Hyderabad and GMMMC ART Centre in Sukkur for the benefit of HIV positive children and adults.
He said that state of the art HIV Treatment Center had been established at Ratodero in collaboration with UNICEF for providing treatment & testing facilities, while treatment adherence is ensured through placing local NGO Bridge Consultants in the community besides ensuring access to a free screening, testing and care for most vulnerable and hard to reach communities had been ensured.
He said Sindh Health Care Commission (SHCC), Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (SBTA) and Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) was extensively working to curb the menace of the source of transmission through their developed systems.
“The Health Department, in support of academia and UN donors, is also building capacities of health care providers at all levels to know the basics of IPC and implement them during service provision in hospitals and clinics,” he added.
In this connection, when this scribe contacted an internationally known expert on HIV/AIDS and former SACP chief, Dr Sharaf Ali Shah, he said that the HIV outbreak is still continuing in Ratodero as tests being conducted until recently show the HIV prevalence of more than 2 per cent.
He said: “If HIV prevalence in the general population is more than 1 per cent, then it is considered a generalised epidemic.
Dr Shah said that a rural community of about 400,000 population with more than 1,000 HIV positive children is a serious challenge not for the affected community but also for the whole province and the country as well.
He said that certainly, the emergence of COVID-19 had pushed all health problems to back burner and the whole world had almost forgotten all other serious issues but Dr Shah added HIV outbreak in Ratodero which had not been contained yet needed immediate attention.
Dr Imran Akbar Arbani, who first broke the story of the presence of HIV positive children in Sindh, said that the children direly need inclusion in the federal government’s Ehsas Kifalat Programme and insurance policies which would not only improve their lives but also bring an end of stigma and discrimination which they face.
He lamented that the endowment fund could not be released for poverty-ridden children despite the fact that the Finance Department had released 3rd and 4th quarter withheld funds under M&R works of Chief Minister’s (CM) Secretariat amounting to Rs15.104 million during the current month.
