In the city of Taunsa. Located in the province of Punjab. Pakistan, 331 children tested positive for HIV between November 2024 and October 2025, according to data compiled by BBC Eye. Among these children is 10-year-old Asma, who lost her younger brother Mohammed Amin to the virus, while the children’s families believe both contracted the virus through contaminated needles during routine medical treatment at THQ Taunsa Hospital.

Undercover Footage Reveals Reused Syringes

During 32 hours of undercover filming at THQ Taunsa in late 2025, BBC Eye witnessed syringes being reused on multi-dose vials of medicine on 10 separate occasions, potentially contaminating the drugs inside. In four of these cases. Medicine from the same vial was given to different children. According to Dr Altaf Ahmed, a consultant microbiologist and infectious disease expert, even with a new needle, the syringe body can carry the virus and transfer it to another patient.

Despite signs on the hospital walls promoting safe injection practices, staff were seen injecting patients without sterile gloves 66 times. A nurse was also filmed rummaging through a medical waste disposal box without gloves. Dr Ahmed stated that these actions violated every principle of injecting medicine.

Hospital Officials Deny the Findings

When BBC Eye showed the footage to the hospital’s new medical superintendent, Dr Qasim Buzdar, he refused to acknowledge it was genuine. He claimed the footage could have been recorded before he took over or that it could have been staged. He insisted that the hospital was safe for children.

Dr Gul Qaisrani, a doctor at a local private clinic, was the first to notice the outbreak in late 2024 after observing a rise in the number of children testing positive for HIV. He says almost all of the 65 to 70 children he diagnosed had been treated at THQ Taunsa. He recalls a mother telling him her daughter was injected with the same syringe as a cousin living with HIV, and that the syringe was then used on several other children.

BBC Eye has compiled data from the Punjab provincial Aids screening programme, private clinics, and a data set leaked by police to identify the 331 children who tested positive for HIV. Out of a sample of 97 children with HIV whose families were also tested, only four of their mothers tested positive. This suggests that very few of these cases were caused by mother-to-child transmission. The mother of Mohammed Amin and Asma, Sughra, tested negative for HIV.

Systemic Issues and Ongoing Concerns

The Punjab government intervened in March 2025, when it said the number of cases was 106. THQ Taunsa Hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Tayyab Farooq Chandio, was suspended, but BBC Eye can reveal that within three months, he was working with children again as a senior medical officer at a rural health centre in Taunsa’s outskirts. Chandio said he took “immediate” action after being notified of an HIV-positive case at THQ Taunsa but claimed the hospital was not the cause of the outbreak.

Dr Qaisrani said a father told him he challenged syringe reuse at THQ Taunsa but was ignored by nurses. Buzdar, who replaced Chandio, said he had a “zero tolerance” policy for unsafe infection control and had conducted training programmes for paramedics and staff nurses on how to prevent and defeat HIV.

BBC Eye’s evidence, however, proves that unsafe practices continued eight months later. Footage from November and December 2025 captured syringes and vials frequently left open alongside discarded needles on countertops that should be kept sterile. Most children were given injections via a cannula, which increases the risk of infection by entering directly into the bloodstream.

A leaked joint mission report from April 2025 by Unicef, the World Health Organization, and the regional healthcare department found many of the same issues as BBC Eye’s investigation. The report noted that essential paediatric medications were missing, unsafe injection practices were common, and IV fluids were being reused. Hand hygiene was neglected, with no sanitizers available.

Dr Fatima Mir, a professor of paediatric medicine at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, says the footage highlights weaknesses in infection control training in Pakistan. She warns that injectors have become an active instrument for passing disease.

Pakistan has one of the highest rates of therapeutic injections in the world, many of them medically unnecessary. Members of the general public often request injections for their children, and doctors comply. Mir suggests that only life-threatening illnesses should be treated with injections, and oral medication should be used for mild to moderate illnesses.