KARACHI: This HIV children outbreak in the Kalsoom Bai Walika Hospital, Karachi, has become more severe, with 16 more children getting infected with the virus, and more cases likely to be discovered. The “HIV epidemic involving children in Walika Hospital Karachi” has been discussed in a hearing under the chairmanship of Sindh Ombudsman Muhammad Sohail Rajput, who has expressed his rage regarding the performance of the hospital and has made several orders.
The hearing included Secretary Labor Sindh Sajid Jamal Abro, Commissioner Sisi Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro, Senior Medical Advisor, Focal Person, Medical Superintendent, and, most importantly, the parents of those children whose complaints highlighted the institutional inefficiency of the administration of the hospital.
Statement of Complaints by the Parents
The parents of the kids that have been infected at the Walika Hospital made statements regarding the situation in the hospital. The complaints of the parents against the administration of the hospital included four issues:
Non-cooperation of the hospital administration when seeking information and help
Medicines shortage – important HIV-related medicines were unavailable
Late payment of costs for the treatment – financial help was delayed
Poor behavior of the administration towards the families in the state of medical disaster
Such grievances, which are made directly to the Sindh Ombudsman, turn the Walika Hospital Karachi HIV children case from an outbreak into a failure by the institution — a hospital that not only failed to stop the infection from happening but also failed the victims.
Financial Mismanagement as an Underlying Reason
The issue of children contracting HIV infection in Walika Hospital Karachi can be explained by the following financial reason, which was highlighted by the Ombudsman:
"Apparently the financial problems of the hospital were one of the factors leading to HIV infection among the children."
Sindh Ombudsman Muhammad Sohail Rajput
This is truly a remarkable statement by an official in a regulatory agency since he admits that poor budgeting of the public hospital could have directly resulted in the creation of an environment in which the children were infected with HIV. This could result from poor maintenance of sterilization machines, inadequate supply of disposable needles, lack of proper infection control measures, among others, and an important financial audit will have to be carried out within two weeks.
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Human Costs – Children who cannot stand up for themselves
Walika Hospital Karachi HIV children problem possesses an individual morality in itself which goes beyond the mere numbers of cases involved. These children are some of the most vulnerable people medically speaking and the ones who are the least able to defend themselves against any sort of institutional failure on the part of the hospital in question. The children have come to the hospital for treatment only to leave the hospital having been diagnosed with a condition that will affect the rest of their lives as HIV is highly stigmatized in Pakistani society.
The specific recommendation of the Ombudsman that psychological counseling be provided takes into account not just the physical diagnosis but all the additional problems that families of HIV positive children have to cope with in Pakistani society.
Systemic Alert for the Pakistani Hospital Industry
The HIV cases amongst children in the Walika Hospital in Karachi is by no means the first such incident of an HIV outbreak originating from a hospital in Pakistan. The town of Ratodero in the district of Larkana witnessed a massive outbreak of HIV amongst its children back in 2019 due to syringe reuse and infection prevention problems in its hospitals. The health system in Pakistan, despite being understaffed and under-resourced, continues to be at risk of more failures.