HIV screening made mandatory before surgeries across Pakistan

Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal has mandated HIV screening before all surgical procedures involving skin piercing or incisions across Pakistan, as reported by Dawn. This directive, issued during a meeting of the Joint Working Group on HIV/AIDS, aims to prevent healthcare-associated transmission of the virus. While Sindh, Punjab, and the Islamabad Capital Territory have already implemented this requirement, the minister emphasized the need for uniform standards nationwide.

Special attention will be given to children living with HIV, with a focus on providing nutritional, psychosocial, and welfare support alongside clinical treatment to enhance their quality of life and treatment outcomes. The minister also directed the provincial healthcare commissions to evaluate infection prevention and control practices, highlighting the necessity of addressing unsafe injections, weak infection-control protocols, and blood safety gaps within the national framework.

Brief written by urgent.news from Dawn - Pakistan's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.