Adiala Jail HIV outbreak has raised serious concerns after 148 inmates tested positive, marking the highest number of HIV cases reported in any jail of Punjab so far. The issue highlights major lapses in monitoring by the Prisons Department and the Punjab Aids Control Programme (PACP).
Adiala Jail is also heavily overcrowded, with 4,337 prisoners crammed into a facility built for only 1,994. Health experts warn that the spread of HIV in such conditions puts the lives of thousands of prisoners at risk unless strict preventive measures are taken.
According to the PACP report, there are now 645 HIV-positive inmates across Punjab’s 43 prisons. Some are already receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART), but many face delays in medicine supply inside jails.
Medical specialists explain that HIV weakens the body’s immune system and, though incurable, can be controlled with ART medicines. “If treatment is interrupted, patients risk life-threatening complications,” a doctor stressed.
Adiala Jail recorded the highest figure with 148 infected prisoners. District Jail Lahore (Camp Jail) followed with 83, Central Jail Faisalabad with 37, and both Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore and Central Jail Gujranwala with 27 each. The remaining 38 prisons combined account for 323 cases.
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Officials revealed that screening is carried out every six months. After initial testing, suspected patients are sent to district ART centres for confirmation, then returned to jail with a three-month medicine supply. However, disruptions in providing these medicines remain a serious issue.
Experts fear that if a central prison like Adiala struggles to manage HIV cases, the condition in other overcrowded jails may be even more alarming.
