At least 21 people are believed to have been infected with HIV after a quack used a common syringe to inject them in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao.

According to IANS, Rajesh Kumar, the quack, was arrested from Bangarmau town in the district. A case has been registered against him on the directive of District Magistrate Ravi Kumar NG.

Rajesh is accused of treating patients of nearby villages from a temporary clinic operating from a hut on the Station Road in Bangarmau and Palia village.

“After we found that a large number of cases were being reported from this area, a screening camp was held, in which 566 persons were examined. Thirty-eight persons were found reactive, while 21 were found positive,” Unnao Chief Medical Officer SP Chaudhary said.

Police Inspector Arun Pratap Singh said that during interrogation, the quack stated that he had earlier worked as a compounder with a doctor and gained some knowledge about medicines there.

Later, he started medical practice on his own. As his prescriptions were quite cheap, patients thronged his makeshift clinic, he said. 

“He would stay there for two-three hours. For ₹10, he would provide both medicine and injections to the patients. People flocked to him in large numbers. After speaking to the HIV-affected persons, the investigating team also found that they had received treatment from the same place,” said PK Dohre, medical superintendent of the local community centre.

The state government has ordered a probe into the incident.

India had 2.1 million people living with HIV at the end of 2016, according to a UNAIDS report. Of these, 9,100 were children under the age of 15.