Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find disturbing.
Mohammed Amin was just eight years old when he died shortly after testing positive for HIV.
His fever grew so intense that he insisted on sleeping in the rain, writhing in pain “as if doused with hot oil,” recalled his mother, Sughra.
“He used to fight with me often, but he also loved me,” said 10-year-old Asma, kneeling by her younger brother’s grave.
Tragically, shortly after her brother contracted the virus, Asma herself was diagnosed with HIV.
Their family believes both children were infected by contaminated needles during routine medical care at a government hospital in Taunsa, Punjab province, Pakistan. They are among 331 children identified by a BBC Eye investigation who tested positive for HIV in the city between November 2024 and October 2025.
After a private clinic doctor linked the initial outbreak to THQ Taunsa hospital in late 2024, local authorities pledged “major action” and suspended the hospital’s medical director in March 2025. However, the BBC Eye investigation now reveals that dangerous injection practices persisted for months afterward.
During 32 hours of undercover filming at THQ Taunsa in late 2025, BBC Eye observed the same syringe being used repeatedly—up to 10 times—on multiple drug vials. This practice carries a high risk of contaminating the medication within those vials.
In four specific instances, medicine from the same vial was administered to different children.
While it is unknown whether any of these particular children were HIV positive, this unsafe practice undeniably created a severe risk of virus transmission.
Dr. Altaf Ahmed, a consultant microbiologist and one of Pakistan’s leading infectious disease experts, commented after reviewing the BBC’s video footage:
“Even if they put a new needle on, the back end of the syringe has the virus in it, so it will transmit even with a new needle.”
Despite posters on the hospital walls illustrating safe injection techniques, BBC reporters filmed hospital staff—including a doctor—injecting patients 66 times without using sterile gloves. Another expert told the BBC that this footage underscores critical weaknesses in infection control training across Pakistan. Furthermore, a nurse was observed unpacking medical waste disposal boxes without sterile gloves.
“He violated every principle of drug injection,” Dr. Ahmed emphasized.
Yet, when presented with the video evidence, the hospital’s medical director, Dr. Qasim Buzdar, refused to acknowledge its authenticity. He claimed the footage might have been recorded before his tenure or could have been “engineered,” steadfastly insisting that his hospital was safe for children.
Dr. Gul Qaisrani, a doctor at a local private clinic, was the first to detect the alarming outbreak in late 2024 after noticing a surge in children presenting at his clinic who tested positive for HIV. He stated that almost all of the 65 to 70 children he diagnosed had previously received treatment at THQ Taunsa.
Dr. Gul recounted one mother’s distressing account: her daughter was injected with a needle previously used on her HIV-positive cousin, which was then reportedly used on several other children. Qaisrani also shared that a father informed him he had challenged the practice of reusing syringes at THQ Taunsa, only to be ignored by the nursing staff.
The BBC Eye team meticulously compiled data from the Punjab Provincial AIDS screening program, private clinics, and a leaked police dataset to identify 331 children who tested positive for HIV in Taunsa between November 2024 and October 2025. Crucially, from a sample of 97 HIV-positive children whose families were also tested, only four mothers tested positive for HIV. This strongly indicates that very few of these cases resulted from mother-to-child transmission.
See also:
- HIV outbreak hits hundreds of children in Pakistan
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Mohammed Amin and Asma’s mother, Sughra, tested negative for HIV, while their father had passed away two years prior in a traffic accident. Provincial AIDS screening program data explicitly cited “contaminated needles” as the cause of transmission for over half of the 331 cases, including Asma’s. For the remaining cases, the cause of transmission was not specified.
The Punjab State government intervened in March 2025 when the number of cases climbed to 106. Subsequently, the then-medical director of THQ Taunsa, Dr. Tayyab Farooq Chandio, was suspended.
However, the BBC Eye investigation uncovered that within three months, Dr. Chandio had resumed working with children as a senior medical officer at a rural health center on the outskirts of Taunsa, raising questions about accountability.
Dr. Chandio told BBC Eye he took “immediate” action upon being informed of HIV-positive cases at THQ Taunsa but denied that the hospital was the source of the outbreak.
Dr. Chandio was replaced by Dr. Buzdar, who informed the BBC that HIV was a “main focus” when he assumed the position in March 2025, asserting a “no tolerance” policy towards unsafe infection control. “We organized training programs for paramedics and staff nurses on how to prevent and defeat HIV. The most important part was the infection prevention control session. They have been well-trained,” he claimed.
However, BBC Eye’s compelling evidence clearly demonstrates that unsafe practices continued unabated eight months later.
The BBC’s video footage, captured over several weeks in November and December 2025, documented syringes and drug vials frequently left exposed next to used needles on surfaces that were supposedly sterile. Furthermore, most children observed receiving treatment at THQ Taunsa were given injections via cannulas—tubes inserted directly into blood vessels—which significantly heightens the risk of infection. When contaminated medicine enters the bloodstream directly, it bypasses the body’s natural defenses, making infection more likely.
In a particularly alarming instance, the BBC recorded a nurse retrieving a used syringe, still containing fluid from the last patient, from under a table. Instead of disposing of it, she handed it to a colleague, seemingly ready for reuse on another child. This incident vividly illustrates the profound failure in infection control practices.
When confronted with this video evidence, Dr. Buzdar continued to insist that the footage was either taken before his tenure or had been engineered.
When asked what he would say to parents watching this shocking footage, his response was defiant:
“I can tell them for sure, with full confidence, that you should get treatment at THQ Taunsa.”
In a formal statement, the local government asserted that “no validated epidemiological evidence” conclusively established THQ Taunsa as the source of the outbreak. The statement added that a joint mission involving UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and regional health services had highlighted the “role of unregulated private practices” and the “contribution of unscreened blood transfusions.”
However, the BBC Eye team obtained a leaked inspection report from that same joint mission, conducted in April 2025 regarding the Taunsa outbreak. This report uncovered many of the same critical issues identified by the BBC’s investigation at THQ Taunsa, directly contradicting the government’s public stance.
“Conditions were very concerning, especially in the pediatric emergency room,” the report stated, referring to one of the very rooms filmed by BBC Eye. “Essential pediatric medications were unavailable, and unsafe injection practices were common. Intravenous (IV) fluids were reused, cannulas were unlabeled, and used infusion sets were left hanging on stands. Hand hygiene was neglected – sinks were clogged, and no sanitizers were available,” the report detailed, painting a grim picture of the hospital’s conditions.
Dr. Fatima Mir, a professor of pediatrics at Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, stated that the BBC’s footage unequivocally highlights profound weaknesses in infection control training throughout Pakistan.
“We have to warn the injectors: ‘You have been an active instrument in disease transmission,'” Dr. Mir asserted.
The BBC’s investigation indicates that these unsafe practices are partly driven by systemic pressures, including a widespread cultural reliance on and preference for injections as a form of treatment. Pakistan has one of the highest rates of therapeutic injections globally, many of which are medically unnecessary. Members of the general public frequently request injections, even for their children, and doctors often readily comply, according to Dr. Mir.
“They should set the threshold for injection practice very high. Only give injections for life-threatening illnesses. For mild to moderate illnesses, use oral medications,” she advised.
Compounding the problem are persistent shortages of essential medicines and medical supplies, which also fuel unsafe practices. The high demand for injections can strain resources, which are typically allocated in government hospitals through a quota system overseen by the medical director. “They have a certain amount of supplies and are told they have to make it last for the entire month,” Dr. Mir explained.
“Do they see that shortcut as dangerous? And where should the money be spent?” she questioned, pointing to the dilemma faced by medical staff.
During their undercover recording, BBC Eye found that supplies were frequently missing from wards, and patients who could afford liquid paracetamol were asked to bring their own, further illustrating the resource scarcity. “They make us accountable for every drug,” a nurse revealed, indicating the pressure to manage limited supplies.
The hazardous practices documented at THQ Taunsa echo similar patterns observed in previous HIV outbreaks elsewhere in Pakistan. In 2019, hundreds of children in Ratodero city, Sindh province, tested positive for HIV, with the vast majority having HIV-negative parents. Dr. Imran Arbani, a local pediatrician, told the BBC he found a history of repeated clinic visits and numerous injections in their medical records. “So it must have been transmitted in one of these medical environments,” he concluded.
By 2021, the number of HIV-positive children in Ratodero had tragically risen to 1,500, and new infections continue to occur even today.
While the BBC was filming in Taunsa, a new cluster of HIV cases was reported in Karachi. In the SITE Town area, children treated at a local government hospital, Kulsoom Bai Valika Hospital, subsequently tested positive for HIV. Two-year-old Mikasha was among them.
A family member shared their shocking experience, stating hospital staff used the same needle on multiple children: “They fill the same syringe and give it to one child, then fill it again and give it to another child,” they recounted to BBC Eye.
The hospital’s medical director, Dr. Mumtaz Shaikh, emphatically stated in an interview that “qualified doctors would never reuse” syringes, adding, “so we have no concept of such a thing happening in a government hospital.” However, Pakistan’s Health Minister has publicly confirmed that the 84-case outbreak at that very hospital was indeed triggered by the reuse of contaminated syringes, directly contradicting Dr. Shaikh’s claims.
When BBC Eye presented its investigative findings to the national government, a spokesperson issued a statement saying the government had “acted swiftly as per its mandate to investigate concerns [and] implement infection prevention control measures,” with guidelines reportedly sent to health facilities in March 2025. This response, however, offers little solace to the affected families.
Back in Taunsa, Asma’s family watches as her weight decreases, knowing she faces a lifetime of medical treatment. The profound stigma associated with HIV means neighbors often forbid their children from playing with her, leaving her isolated as well as ill, her family shared. She heartbreakingly asked her mother: “What is wrong with me?”
Standing at her brother’s grave, Asma quietly expressed how much she misses him. “He is now with God,” she murmured. Despite her suffering, Asma told BBC Eye that she studies diligently at school, holding onto a glimmer of hope for the future. “When I grow up,” she declared, “I want to be a doctor.”
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