HIV screening expanded at all SESSI hospitals as cases surface in Karachi

KARACHI: HIV screening has been stepped up across all hospitals run by the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution (SESSI), with authorities widening checks to outpatients, admitted patients and children as fresh cases emerge around two Karachi facilities.

SESSI Commissioner Hadi Baksh Kalhoro said the institution was also compiling records of all OPD and admitted patients treated at its hospitals since January 2025. He said any case in which a patient treated during that period is found to be HIV-positive will be examined to determine how the infection occurred and whether anyone can be held responsible.

The expanded exercise follows the detection of a four-month-old baby at SESSI’s Landhi Hospital who tested HIV-positive during routine OPD screening. Kalhoro said the child’s mother was then tested and also found to be HIV-positive, while the father left the hospital before staff could collect his blood sample.

He said screening of 2,000 people in and around Landhi Hospital has so far found 10 HIV-positive cases. At and around Valika Hospital, 120 children and adults have been confirmed HIV-positive out of 10,000 people screened to date.

Province-wide screening

Kalhoro said the Sindh health and labour departments were jointly carrying out HIV screening not only at SESSI-run hospitals but across government hospitals in the province as well.

He said all SESSI hospitals and dispensaries were continuing to provide healthcare services for OPD visitors and admitted patients. Detailed records of every child diagnosed with HIV, along with those of family members, are also being prepared so they can receive medical treatment and welfare support, he added.