The Afghan Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz has narrowly escaped a possible HIV infection after he was attacked with a syringe by a drug addict, the officials said Sunday.

There are growing fears of rapid HIV infection spread among the drug addicts in the country as syringes are mostly used by the addicts to inject the drugs into their bodies.

However, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) officials have said the minister has undergone tests which have proven that he was not infected in the attack.

The officials further added that the minister was on a site visit when he under attack by a drug addict who inserted the syringe in the shoulder of the minister.

According to the officials, the attack on Mr. Feroz was pre-planned by those who are opposing to shift the drug addicts from the city to a rehabilitation center.

This comes as major campaign was launched by the government late in the month of December last year to collect and shift drug addicts from Kabul city and shift them to a former NATO base.

The Ministry of Counter-Narcotics of Afghanistan in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Economy allocated parts of Camp Phoenix for the treatment of drug addicts.