Daily Times

LARKANA: The number of HIV (Human immuno deficiency Virus) positive cases continue to rise unhindered in entire Larkana division for which no concrete preventive steps have been taken either by the concerned District Health Officers (DHO)or by the Sindh Government except opening of new HIV/AIDS Treatment & Care Centers in the province. As many as 259 new patients were registered within last eight months as previously their registered number in November 2017 was 1861 which now has reached to 2120 till end of July, 2018.

According to the statistics obtained by this Scribe, Larkana district continue to dominate the list as it has 950 HIV positive registered patients, second number is Kambar-Shahdadkot district which has 314 cases, third position is occupied by Dadu district as it has 217 patients and fourth number is of Khairpur district which has 184 and Shikarpur district is at number 5 which has 128 HIV positive registered patients.

These registered patients have been getting treatment from HIV/AIDS Treatment & Care Center established in Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana.

According to the data, the most affected age group of this dreaded viral disease is between 18-30 years and their number is 1120, second is of age group between 31-40 years which has so far affected 595 positive and third number is of those persons whose age is between 41-40 as their number is 235 patients.

As many as 217 patients (including 50 women) have so far been registered in 2018 whereas their number in 2017 was 424 and in 2016 they were 444 (including 89 females) which means the HIV positive cases are continuously surfacing and the preventive government authorities have done nothing to make proper awareness among the masses who regularly fall prey easily to this menace without knowledge of its implications.

Out of these 2120 cases, 208 are also suffering from Hepatitis C including 19 females. 25 are suffering from Hepatitis B including three females and one transgender and 100 among them are also on Anti-Kock treatment.

These figures clearly indicate that HIV situation in Larkana has reached to an alarming state which need to be curbed on emergency basis otherwise illiterate people will continue to suffer seriously like the viral disease of Hepatitis which is said to be more dangerous than HIV/AIDS.

Sindh AIDS Control Program needs to be completely overhauled as the present administration has miserably failed to control the spread of this disease. Accountability of funds needs check and balance whether these were utilized in a transparent manner or were spent uselessly, the affected patient demanded requesting anonymity.