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“My job is making windows where there were once walls” — Michel Foucault
HIV AIDS is a window to our health system. Instead of erecting mental walls of apathy and ignorance, the spread of HIV among children through our so-called healthcare system, helps us open a window through which the whole system can be revisited. Only if we are for windows and not walls.
After the Taunsa outbreak and incriminating BBC Eye documentary, the Punjab government first tried to defend itself and unnecessarily blamed the BBC for being misrepresentative and hyperbolic but then as the pressure mounted in the media by concerned citizens, the prime minister took notice and advised the Federal Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination to set up a ‘Task Force on Reported HIV Mishandling’. This task force, ably chaired by the state minister of health, Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath, quickly convened experts and in three meetings (May 6, 8 and 14, 2026) produced a comprehensive report covering many governance, system, administrative as well as technical issues, and submitted it to the PM on May 21, 2026. Fast and commendable.
With several delays, including more than a month’s postponement, the PM called a hurried meeting on July 3, 2026, in which, reportedly, most of the recommendations were heeded and accepted and some decisions taken. Since then, there has been silence — no official minutes, no official decisions to move ahead.
