Iran: Government Blamed for Hundreds, Mostly children, Infection with HIV
Published by Ali on October 7, 2019
At least 300 people, including children, are believed to have been infected with HIV in southwest province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari by health authorities using contaminated syringe, reports indicateD, on 2 October, 2019.
People in the village of Chenar Mahmoud in Lordegan, have pointed to medical negligence across the local health care system as the cause of the outbreak.
According to locals, people contracted HIV from needles used by the village’s health organization to test for diabetes two months ago.
According to International Liberty Association, reports indicates that, the incident has also affected inhabitants of other neighboring villages.
On Wednesday, a crowd of residents, mostly women, held a demonstration in front of the governor’s office and the Health Ministry’s office in Lordegan, protesting regime authorities’ unhealthy practices resulting in the outbreak.
Protesters say the agent from the House of Health had used contaminated syringes for multiple persons to take diabetes test, leading to the infection of a large number of residents of this village to HIV virus.
“The people of Chenar Mahmoud are scared,” one villager said. “Many refrain from taking blood tests out of fear of finding out they have been infected. ”
He continued: “ Every family of two or three has become inflicted with the virus. Anyone who has taken the test has turned out to be positive. And no one asks this regime, why do you need to test a nine-year-old kid for cholesterol and blood sugar and inflict them with AIDS.”
