Islamabad, Pakistan – Web Desk: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Health, chaired by Mahesh Kumar Milani, expressed strong concern over the rising number of HIV/AIDS cases in Pakistan and the quality of official reporting.
Dr. Shazia Thobia criticized the Health Ministry’s recent report on HIV/AIDS patients, describing it as “so incomplete that if shared with international organizations, it would embarrass us.” She highlighted that hundreds of patients, including tens of thousands in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and thousands in Balochistan, were not reflected in the report. In Islamabad, 300 cases from 2025 were reportedly omitted. The report listed only 81,000 patients nationwide, leaving out several high-incidence areas.
Committee member Mustafa Kamal noted that systemic issues cannot be resolved quickly, emphasizing that estimates of 300,000 HIV patients in the country were preliminary and under investigation.
The federal minister noted that Global Fund allocations provide 25% of funding to the government and 75% to NGOs, adding that more cases would emerge during ongoing screenings. He emphasized that border health services would include thorough screening, and cited an incident in Sindh where children contracted the disease due to contaminated syringes.
The committee called for urgent improvements in data collection, monitoring, and preventive measures to curb the growing HIV/AIDS burden in Pakistan.
