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KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the provincial government on Thursday to constitute a committee for an “independent, impartial and comprehensive” inquiry into the HIV outbreak among children at Karachi’s Kulsum Bai Valika Hospital.
A two-member SHC bench, headed by Justice Adnanul Karim Memon and comprising Justice Muhammad Jaffer Raza, issued the directive as it announced its reserved judgement on a plea seeking an independent inquiry, registration of a case and lifelong medical treatment as well as appropriate compensation for the affected children.
The outbreak was initially reported late last year, following which the Sindh government carried out screening at the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution-run hospital located in Karachi’s SITE area. According to data shared by the Sindh government, at least 78 children have been found infected with HIV at the hospital while a screening in the nearby area also confirmed 120 additional cases.
But Advocate Tariq Mansoor, the lawyer who moved the SHC on the matter, claimed in his petition filed in May that the total number of infected children is around 200.
