SC seeks report on measures to prevent HIV/AIDS in Sindh

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has directed the primary and secondary healthcare departments of Sindh to submit within three weeks comprehensive reports describing what preventive and curative steps had been taken to fight HIV/AIDs in the province.

According to an official handout issued by the Sindh Information Department, the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry passed these orders while hearing Human Rights Case No. 25819-P of 2018 in the matter regarding AIDS victims of Jalalpur Jattan in the Punjab province.

The apex court in its remarks said: “The issue of AIDS is not confined only to the province of Punjab; rather, it extends to the whole Pakistan.

Therefore, we require reports as to what preventive and curative steps have been taken, including the promotion of awareness.”

The court has directed the primary and secondary health care departments of Sindh through the advocate general to submit a report on the matter within next three weeks.

HIV/AIDS is spreading fast in Sindh, especially in the interior of the province, including Larkana district, despite the provincial government’s spending millions of rupees from the funds of the Sindh AIDS Control Program.

The dreaded disease is also gripping inmates of major jails in the province due to injectable drug usage and sexual relations, but no measures are being adopted by the jail authorities to check the menace.