HIV screening made mandatory before surgeries
ISLAMABAD: Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday directed health officials to ensure mandatory HIV screening before all surgical procedures involving skin piercing or incisions across Pakistan, aiming to curb healthcare-associated transmission of the virus. Mr Kamal issued the directive while chairing a meeting of the Joint Working Group on HIV/AIDS at the ministry. The minister…
Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal mandated HIV screening prior to all surgical procedures involving skin piercing or incisions in Pakistan during a Joint Working Group on HIV/AIDS meeting on Wednesday, aiming to prevent the disease's healthcare-associated transmission. The directive was issued as Kamal chaired a meeting of the joint working group at the ministry.
Health officials in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan were instructed to formalize and distribute the necessary notifications to enforce the pre-surgical HIV screening requirement. The health minister stressed the importance of maintaining uniform standards across all regions of the country and highlighted the need to pay special attention to children living with HIV.
He emphasized that their care should encompass nutritional, psychosocial, and welfare support alongside clinical treatment to enhance their overall quality of life and treatment outcomes. Kamal directed that provincial healthcare commissions attend the upcoming meeting to assess Infection Prevention and Control practices, stressing that unsafe injections, weak infection-control protocols, and blood safety gaps must be addressed within the national framework.
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