Reused syringes infect 331 children with HIV in Pakistan

The death of eight-year-old Mohammad Amin was very tragic. He died within a few days of being diagnosed with HIV positive.

After Amin's death, his 10-year-old sister Asma was also diagnosed with HIV. The family claims that they were infected with this deadly virus due to the use of old syringes during treatment. Experts have also expressed the same fear.

BBC investigative report has revealed a image of terrible irregularities in a government hospital in the city of Taunsa in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The report says that the infection has spread due to the negligence of health workers and unsafe treatment methods.

BBC investigative team stayed at the hospital for 32 hours and recorded videos. The footage showed that the same syringe was being used repeatedly in multiple cases. Even after the injection, the same syringe was being used again. In many cases, health workers gave injections without gloves.

The investigation found evidence of the same syringe being used for multiple patients in at least 10 cases. The syringes used to draw medicine from ‘multi-dose vials’ were also being used, which increases the risk of infection manifold.

According to the data, at least 331 children treated at Taunsa from November 2024 to October 2025 tested positive for HIV. Of these, only 4 were found to have the virus in their bodies when 97 mothers were retested—which suggests that most of the children were infected while receiving treatment.

In March 2025, when the number of infected children exceeded 106, the head of the hospital, Dr. Taib Farooq Chandy, was dismissed. However, it was later learned that within a few months, he was reinstated at a nearby health center.

Chandy claimed that he took necessary measures after learning about the infection and that the hospital was not responsible for the outbreak. His successor, Dr. Qasim Buzdar, also made a similar claim. However, a BBC investigation found that unsafe practices did not stop even after the change of responsibility.

The video shows open syringes and children being injected through cannulas, which increases the risk of infection. Microbiologist Dr. Altaf Ahmed said that even with new needles, the virus can still be present in the syringe.

Although the hospital authorities have denied these allegations and have also questioned the authenticity of the video, the local government of Punjab has said that there is not enough evidence to hold the hospital responsible for the outbreak. According to them, unregistered treatment and untested blood transfusions could also be the cause of the infection.

However, a joint inspection report in April 2025 by UNICEF and the World Health Organization noted violations of hygiene rules and faulty injection procedures in the hospital's emergency department.

Experts say that there is a tendency in Pakistan to get unnecessary injections, which is increasing such infections. Earlier in 2019, hundreds of children were infected with HIV in the city of Ratodero in Sindh province. By 2021, that number had risen to 1,500. Recently, 84 children in Karachi's Site Town area were also diagnosed with HIV.

Pakistan's Union Health Minister has said that the reuse of contaminated syringes is the main cause of these infections. The government has already announced an investigation into the matter and taking immediate steps to control the infection.