Tounsa Sharif, Punjab: A major medical scandal has been uncovered at the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Tounsa Sharif, where hospital staff were repeatedly using used syringes on patients, resulting in 331 children contracting HIV.
According to a BBC investigation, the number of HIV-positive children in Tounsa reached 331 between November 2024 and October 2025.
The issue surfaced when a private doctor linked the spike in cases to the government hospital.
Authorities suspended the Medical Superintendent and announced a crackdown, but the practice of reusing syringes continued for several months.
A hidden camera video from the hospital showed:
- Medicine being drawn into already used syringes on 10 different occasions.
- The same medicine vial being used for multiple children on four occasions.
- Hospital staff, including a doctor, administering injections 66 times without wearing gloves.
- A nurse searching through a medical waste box with bare hands.
Medical experts have stated that even replacing the needle does not eliminate the risk, as the syringe body can still carry the virus and transmit it to new patients.
This incident exposes serious weaknesses in infection control practices in Pakistan.
The new Medical Superintendent, Dr. Qasim Buzdar, claimed the footage may be old or staged, asserting that the hospital is now safe for children.
Punjab AIDS Screening Programme data shows that out of 331 infected children, half were infected due to reused needles.
Of 97 tested mothers, only four were HIV positive, indicating that the vast majority of infections were not transmitted from mother to child.
In March 2025, the Punjab government suspended the previous Medical Superintendent, Dr. Tayyab Farooq Chandio, after 106 cases emerged.
However, just three months later, he was posted again as a Senior Medical Officer at a nearby rural health centre, where he continued treating children.
