Karachi: Pakistan’s largest suspected hospital-acquired HIV outbreak continues to deepen as another child has tested HIV-positive after receiving treatment at Karachi’s Kulsum Bai Valika Social Security Site Hospital, taking the number of confirmed affected children to 110.
Labour department authorities have already suspended 13 members of the hospital staff following an internal investigation into the incident, officials said on Saturday.
Hospital records reviewed by Vitals News show that the latest patient is a nine-year-old boy who underwent HIV screening at the hospital’s Clinical Pathological and Molecular Laboratory on July 3, 2026.
The screening test returned a reactive result, with the laboratory advising confirmatory testing through ELISA/CLIA or referral to an Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre, in line with standard HIV diagnostic protocols.
According to hospital staff and family members, the child is a resident of Golimar, Karachi, and had received medical treatment at Kulsum Bai Valika Hospital last year. Officials familiar with the investigation suspect the virus may have been acquired during treatment at the facility, although the source of infection is yet to be established through the ongoing inquiry.
The latest case adds to mounting concerns over what health experts believe could be one of the country’s largest clusters of suspected healthcare-associated HIV transmission among children.
Officials at the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution (SESSI) said an inquiry committee constituted after the outbreak issued show-cause notices to 13 hospital employees before recommending their suspension.
Those suspended include two former Medical Superintendents, the head of a clinical department, doctors and several members of the paramedical staff.
Officials in the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources confirmed that the inquiry report has been completed and will be submitted before the relevant court for further legal proceedings. Authorities have so far not publicly disclosed the findings of the investigation.
Parents of affected children, however, claim the scale of the outbreak is significantly larger than officially acknowledged. They maintain that while laboratory confirmation is available for 110 children, around 200 children are believed to have been infected and at least nine have died after testing positive for HIV.
The outbreak first came to light after an unusual number of children with no traditional risk factors for HIV were diagnosed with the infection following treatment at the hospital. Since then, health authorities have been screening former patients, particularly children who had received injections, intravenous infusions, blood transfusions or other invasive medical procedures at the facility.
The continued detection of new cases among children who underwent treatment at the hospital months or even years earlier has raised serious concerns among public health experts, who say the pattern is consistent with prolonged exposure to unsafe healthcare practices rather than a single isolated incident.
Investigators are examining multiple possible routes of transmission, including unsafe injection practices, reuse of disposable syringes or intravenous equipment, inadequate sterilisation of medical instruments and lapses in infection prevention and control measures. Officials have not yet publicly identified the exact cause of the outbreak.
The incident has renewed concerns about healthcare-associated HIV transmission in Pakistan, where previous outbreaks have been linked to unsafe medical practices, contaminated injections, poor infection control and unregulated healthcare facilities.
Public health experts say children who have ever received treatment at Kulsum Bai Valika Social Security Site Hospital, particularly those who underwent injections, intravenous therapy, blood transfusions or surgical procedures, should be screened for HIV if they have not already been tested.
They stress that early diagnosis allows timely initiation of antiretroviral therapy, enabling infected children to lead longer and healthier lives while reducing further transmission.
The latest case is expected to intensify pressure on provincial authorities to expedite accountability, strengthen infection prevention and control measures in public hospitals and ensure comprehensive screening and long-term follow-up of all patients potentially exposed during the period under investigation.