Four dialysis patients test positive for HIV at Mian Channu hospital

LAHORE: Four patients undergoing dialysis at the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital (THQ), Mian Channu, have tested positive for HIV, raising fresh concerns about infection-control practices at healthcare facilities in south Punjab. According to the reports available with Dawn, the patients, including three women, who had been receiving dialysis at the hospital tested positive for the deadly virus after initial diagnosis. The hospital administration has referred them to the Nishtar Hospital Multan for further medical evaluation and treatment and they are currently under treatment there. The Mian Channu hospital officials told the media that more than 60 patients were receiving dialysis at the facility and HIV could not be transmitted through the dialysis process. They said that they were assessing the situation. Infected patients, including three women, sent to Multan’s Nishtar Hospital Sources, however, said that more dialysis patients might also have tested positive but the officials did not confirm more cases. In recent years, several HIV cases were reported in the healthcare facilities in Punjab. In November 2024, around 30 kidney patients at the Nishtar Hospital were reported to have contracted HIV during dialysis, while one patient died after developing complications. A Punjab government fact-finding committee subsequently confirmed an HIV/AIDS outbreak in the hospital’s nephrology unit and identified violations of dialysis guidelines and standard operating procedures. A scientific study published in 2026, involving researchers from the Aga Khan University and the Punjab AIDS Control Programme, found that the Multan dialysis cases were closely linked and provided evidence that the infections originated within the healthcare setting. The Punjab government ordered proceedings under the PEEDA Act against senior officials and medical staff over alleged negligence and mismanagement related to the outbreak in Nishtar Hospital Multan in January 2025. Another major HIV-rela