RATODERO: Parents of HIV-infected children held a large protest demonstration in front of Ratodero Press Club here on Sunday demanding proper treatment facilities of their children, including drugs, rationing and treatment funding:
They shouted slogans in favour of their just demands, cursing the government for its failure to take concrete steps holding large banners and placards in their hands.
While talking to newsmen protesters including Imtiaz Ali Jalbani, Ghulam Muhammad, Abdul Waheed Joyo, Ghanwar Kharos, Tariq Jalbani, Nazar Mohammad Shar, Abdul Sattar Khokhar, Aamir Jalbani, Riaz Khokhar and others told media that their innocent children suffering from HIV / AIDS are ill-treated as they are just given local substandard medicines. They said their infected children cannot even drink a syrup then how can they inhale tablets which also become powder after sometime. They further alleged that influential people are supplied quality medicines but our poor kids are given low quality drugs which is unjust and amounts to discrimination.
They further alleged that since the past seven months no ration and treatment fund has been given for which millions of rupees were reserved, adding we have been given only two instalments. They said out of the endowment fund first instalment of Rs2000 was given and then second instalment of Rs3000 was handed over to the parents but after that nothing has been done as yet. They said nobody knows why the fund has been stopped to the ailing children whose parents are already poverty-stricken and cannot afford high costs of quality treatment in this sky-rocketing inflation.
They said three years have passed but the government’s announcements for the ailing children have so far proved to be merely hollow political slogans. They said we are asking for the rights of our children and not begging hence we should not be forced to run from pillar to post in this hot weather along with our HIV positive children. They claimed that the lives of so many children are at stake due to this dangerous viral disease but proper treatment facilities have not so far been made available due to which parents are extremely worried.
They demanded payment of Rs25000 and proper medical treatment facilities which are available globally for HIV infected children. Meanwhile, Dr. Imran Akbar Arbani who first detected the outbreak of HIV among the children in 2019 said that since December 2021 as many as 483 HIV positive cases have been detected in Ratodero.
