Hospital at Centre of Child HIV Outbreak Found Reusing Syringes in Secret Filming

Eight-year-old Mohammed Amin passed away shortly after his HIV diagnosis, with his mother, Sughra, recalling his severe fevers and agonizing pain. “He used to fight with me, but he also loved me,” she said while kneeling at her younger brother’s graveside. Ten-year-old Asma, who also contracted HIV, witnessed her brother’s struggle. Both children were treated at THQ Taunsa Hospital in Punjab, Pakistan, where families believe contaminated needles led to infections. BBC Eye has linked these cases to a larger outbreak, identifying 331 children in Taunsa who tested positive for HIV between November 2024 and October 2025.

Undercover Insights

During 32 hours of secret filming at THQ Taunsa in late 2025, the hospital’s unsafe practices were exposed. Syringes were reused on multi-dose vials of medicine 10 times, risking viral spread. In four instances, the same vial was administered to different children, raising concerns about transmission. Dr. Altaf Ahmed, a microbiology expert, noted that even with new needles, the syringe body could carry HIV, making reusing a serious threat.

“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,” said Dr. Altaf Ahmed.

Staff, including a doctor, were filmed using non-sterile gloves 66 times during the investigation. A nurse also handled medical waste without protection, prompting Ahmed to call it a violation of basic safety standards. Despite posted guidelines, these actions highlight systemic lapses in infection control training across Pakistan’s healthcare system.

Government Response and Staff Denial

Local authorities suspended THQ Taunsa’s medical superintendent, Dr. Tayyab Farooq Chandio, in March 2025 after a private clinic doctor linked the outbreak to the facility. However, BBC Eye’s footage revealed unsafe practices continued months later. When shown to the hospital’s new leader, Dr. Qasim Buzdar, he dismissed the evidence, suggesting it could have been staged or recorded before his tenure.

Dr. Gul Qaisrani, who first noticed the pattern in late 2024, reported that nearly 70 of his patients had been treated at THQ Taunsa. One mother described a syringe shared between her daughter and an HIV-positive cousin, while another claimed nurses ignored her concerns about reuse. Qaisrani’s findings align with Punjab’s AIDS screening data, which lists “contaminated needle” as the transmission method for over half of the 331 cases, including Asma’s. For the rest, the mode remains unspecified.

Among the affected, only four mothers tested HIV-positive in a sample of 97 children, indicating mother-to-child spread was unlikely. Sughra, the mother of Mohammed Amin and Asma, tested negative, though her husband died in a road accident two years prior. The Punjab government initially cited 106 cases in March 2025, but BBC Eye’s data suggests the outbreak was far larger. Chandio, replaced by Buzdar, later worked at a rural health center, denying his hospital was responsible for the crisis.