May 3 (UPI) -- Police in Pakistan arrested a man purporting to be a doctor after he allegedly infected 93 people, including 67 children, with HIV, the Sindh province health ministry said Friday.
Health Minister Azar Pechuho told the Sindh Assembly the suspect, whose name wasn't reported, faces charges of employing used syringes while treating patients in Larkana district.
District officials were tipped off about alleged exposure when 15 children tested positive for the virus.
"All those children -- aged 2 months to 8 years -- were being taken to a single doctor practicing in the area," Pechuho said. "That doctor was using a single drip kit and a single injection on all those children."
Local health officials held a community screening to test 2,700 people since April 25, and the number of infected rose to 93.
The suspect said he was unaware he also had HIV and denied wrongdoing.
"This is, no doubt, an alarming situation as we were not expecting these figures," Dr. Aftab Ahmad of the Sindh AIDS Control Program told Turkey's Anadolu Agency.
The government expanded screening programs in the region and began restricting unauthorized laboratories, clinics and blood banks.
"The level of quackery is too huge," Ahmad said. "Until and unless it is controlled, I am afraid spreading of HIV virus cannot be contained."
