Hospital at centre of child HIV outbreak caught reusing syringes in undercover filming

Hospital at Centre of Child HIV Outbreak Caught Reusing Syringes in Undercover Filming

In late 2025, BBC Eye’s hidden camera captured unsafe medical practices at THQ Taunsa Hospital in Punjab, Pakistan, where syringes were reused on multiple occasions. The footage, spanning 32 hours, revealed staff members—including a physician—administering injections from shared vials to at least 10 different patients. This risky behavior could have spread HIV to children receiving routine treatments. Despite visible warnings on hospital walls about proper injection techniques, the team observed 66 instances of staff members injecting patients without sterile gloves.

The incident follows a significant HIV outbreak in Taunsa. Over 331 children were diagnosed with the virus between November 2024 and October 2025. Two of these patients, Mohammed Amin and Asma, were eight and ten years old when they contracted the infection. Amin suffered severe fevers and pain so intense that his mother described him as “writhing like he’d been thrown in hot oil.” Asma, who also tested positive, shared her grief while kneeling at her brother’s grave. Their family believes both children were infected through contaminated needles during medical visits at the government hospital.

Dr. Gul Qaisrani, a physician at a local private clinic, first noticed the pattern in late 2024. He reported that 65 to 70 children diagnosed with HIV had been treated at THQ Taunsa. One parent told him their daughter was injected with a syringe used by a cousin with HIV, and the device was later applied to several other children. Qaisrani also recalled a father who raised concerns about syringe reuse but was dismissed by hospital staff.

Local authorities initially acted after a doctor linked the outbreak to THQ Taunsa. In March 2025, the hospital’s medical superintendent was suspended, and officials vowed to address the issue. However, the undercover footage exposed that risky practices persisted. Dr. Altaf Ahmed, a microbiology consultant, warned that even with new needles, the syringe body could carry the virus, posing a clear transmission risk. He emphasized the footage’s accuracy, stating,

“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.”

The hospital’s new medical superintendent, Dr. Qasim Buzdar, questioned the authenticity of the footage. He suggested it might have been recorded before his tenure or staged, insisting his facility was safe for children. Meanwhile, data from Punjab’s AIDS screening program and leaked police records confirmed 331 HIV cases in the city. Of these, over half were attributed to “contaminated needle” as the transmission method. Only four of 97 tested families had mothers who were HIV-positive, pointing to limited mother-to-child spread.

Dr. Tayyab Farooq Chandio, THQ Taunsa’s former medical superintendent, was replaced by Buzdar. Chandio later told BBC Eye he took immediate steps after learning of an HIV-positive case at the hospital. Yet, he was still seen working with children at a rural health center just three months later. The Punjab government initially listed 106 cases in March 2025, but the exact cause of the outbreak remains under investigation.