It is an alarming sign that approximately 350,000 HIV patients have been reported from Sindh and Punjab.
An estimated 350,000 HIV cases have been reported in Sindh and Punjab, raising serious public health concerns and putting renewed focus on prevention, testing and treatment efforts in the country’s two most populous provinces.
This was revealed in the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Health meeting, chaired by Cheikh Karman and attended by Member of the National Assembly Mahesh Kumar Malani.
How much spend on per patient annually
It was informed during the meeting that the National AIDS Program spends between $300 and $500 per patient annually for medical treatment.
Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal stated that 84,000 people are currently receiving treatment for HIV.
Minister further explained that the ministry had increased the number of HIV testing centres from 24 to 127, resulting in more people being screened and a subsequent rise in detected cases.
Committee members expressed concern over the pace of progress in clinical surveillance and implementation measures, citing delays in reporting and incomplete data.
In response, the ministry stated that certain issues require further review and additional time to address.
Meanwhile, Dr Shazia Sobia expressed her displeasure over the report on people affected by HIV/AIDS presented by the Ministry of Health.
According to details, Dr Shazia Sobia stated that if this HIV/AIDS report had been presented to international organisations, it would have been severely criticised. She said the number of HIV/AIDS patients is increasing across the country.
She further stated that hundreds of patients were not even mentioned in the report. In 2025, there were forty thousand patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), but they were not included. She added that if this report is released in its current form, it would be misleading.
Dr Shazia also said that in 2025, 300 cases were reported in Islamabad, but these were not mentioned in the report. Balochistan was also not included, despite having between 7,000 and 8,000 patients. The report, however, shows a total of 81,000 patients.
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