A shocking undercover investigation has revealed that a Pakistani hospital at the center of a child HIV outbreak continues to reuse syringes, putting young patients at grave risk months after authorities promised reforms.
Ten-year-old Asma kneels at her younger brother's graveside, remembering Mohammed Amin who died at age eight after contracting HIV. "He used to fight with me, but he also loved me," she says quietly. Both children tested positive for the virus despite their mother testing negative, part of a devastating pattern affecting hundreds of families in Taunsa, Punjab.
"Even if they have attached a new needle, the back part, which we call the syringe body, has the virus in it, so it will transfer even with a new needle," warned Dr. Altaf Ahmed, a leading infectious disease expert in Pakistan after reviewing the footage.
BBC investigators have identified 331 children who tested positive for HIV in Taunsa between November 2024 and October 2025. Data suggests contaminated needles are responsible for more than half of these cases, with mother-to-child transmission accounting for very few.
The outbreak was first detected in late 2024 when Dr. Gul Qaisrani, a local private doctor, noticed an alarming increase in HIV-positive children at his clinic. "Almost all of the 65 to 70 children I diagnosed had been treated at THQ Taunsa Hospital," he revealed, recounting parents' stories of syringes being reused on multiple children.
Despite authorities suspending the hospital's medical superintendent in March 2025 and promising a "massive crackdown," undercover filming eight months later captured dangerous practices continuing. Over 32 hours of footage shows:
- Syringes being reused on multi-dose medicine vials on 10 separate occasions
- Medicine from contaminated vials administered to different children
- Staff injecting patients without sterile gloves 66 times
- A nurse rummaging through medical waste without protection
- Syringes and vials left open alongside discarded needles on countertops
Most concerningly, investigators witnessed a nurse pull a used syringe from under a counter with liquid still inside, then hand it to a colleague apparently ready for reuse on another child.
When confronted with the evidence, the hospital's new medical superintendent, Dr. Qasim Buzdar, refused to acknowledge its authenticity. "This footage could also be staged," he claimed, insisting his hospital was safe despite the visual proof of ongoing violations.
Meanwhile, the previously suspended medical superintendent, Dr. Tayyab Farooq Chandio, has been quietly reassigned to work with children at a rural health center just three months after his suspension.
The investigation highlights systemic failures in infection control that continue to endanger children's lives long after the initial outbreak was discovered, raising urgent questions about accountability and patient safety in Pakistan's healthcare system.