Eleven more prisoners of Karachi prisons have been tested HIV/AIDS positive in special screening campaign launched by Sindh Aids Control programme (SACP), added total number of HIV/Aids patients in jails of Karachi are sixty, learnt Business Recorder on Saturday.
SACP had started screening of prisoners following to the directives of Sindh High Court (SHC). According to total number, 60 prisoners have been identified as HIV/AIDS patients out of total 1,024 whom HIV/Aids tests were carried out by the said institution.
Health experts termed the aforementioned statistics alarming, saying government should pay special head towards this appalling issue so as to salvage the other prisoners from this chronic disease. The team of experts of SACP has initiated screening of prisons of Karachi including Central Jail (Prison), Malir Jail (Prison) and Juvenile Jail (Prison) form 21st December 2010 which has been carried out for 8 months, sources informed.
They found 60 prisoners as the patients of HIV/AIDS out of 1,024 after the certain tests. The report available to Business Recorder suggested that HIV/Aids have been proved fatal for Karachi Central Jail as 11 more cases have been detected in just short span of one month. The report issued by SECP prior in May, revealed that out of 49 patients, Karachi Central Prison had only one HIV/Aids patients.
Malir Jail has been proved the hub of HIV/AIDS patients where 47 cases have been detected out of more than 700 prisoners who were tested at the jail during the period of 8 months. Besides, one prisoner of Juvenile jail has also been detected as HIV/AIDS positive out of 51 who were tested by the team of SACP.
When contradicted, Deputy Programme Manager of SACP Dr Qamar Abbas told Business Recorder that screening process of prisoners is being underway; we have to test all prisoners of all jails of Karachi so as to take proactive measure for saving other prisoners.
He said that treatment of detected prisoners is also being carried out. While, Superintendent of Malir Jail Nazir Hussain Shah said that they have made separate arrangements for HIV/AIDS patients. He said that most of prisoners of Malir jail have been inducted in minor cases and they left the jail within the very short period so it is duty of SACP to follow HIV/AIDS.
SACP should follow released patients and provide them complete treatment, he urged. Reliable sources of Prison department told Business Recorder that the environment of Sindh's prisons is very unhygienic and degraded. SACP could find more HIV/AIDS patients if it continues to conduct blood screening of the rest of the prisoners.
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