Photo: AFP
The doctor accused of spreading HIV in Larkana’s Ratodero has been granted bail.
Dr Muzaffar Ghanghro obtained bail on Friday from the Sindh High Court against a surety of Rs200,000. He will be released from jail after submitting the surety.
Over 800 people have tested positive for HIV in Ratodero so far. Most of the victims are children and officials believe the disease was spread through the unsafe use of medical injections.
Dr Ghanghro was earlier cleared of deliberately spreading HIV. “We have found that [Dr Muzaffar] Ghanghro did not deliberately inject his patients with the HIV but rather that he did not take enough care to prevent it from spreading,” Larkana SSP Masood Bangash had said on May 23. He is part of the Joint Investigation Team set up by Larkana DIG Irfan Baloch to investigate the case.
Dr Ghanghro, who was arrested in Ratodero on April 30, has since tested positive for AIDS despite initially refusing to be tested. However, the JIT’s findings refute initial claims that he had deliberately injected his patients with HIV as a form of revenge.
Dr Ghanghro, an employee at a public hospital in Ratodero, was arrested on charges of infecting 42 patients at the facility with HIV. He was presented before a court on May 1 and was remanded into police custody.
