KOCHI: The High Court on Thursday directed the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Thiruvananthapuram, to preserve the blood sample and medical records of the 10-year old girl, a native of Harippad, who died on Wednesday. The court issued the order on a petition filed by the mother of the child, who was suspected to have contracted HIV infection after blood transfusion during her treatment at the RCC.
The petitioner said medical negligence of the RCC officials had resulted in the death of her daughter and that such negligence is a violation of the principle of right to life. The girl child suffering from leukaemia was HIV-negative when she was admitted to the RCC. She was reported HIV-positive after the blood transfusion held at RCC using the blood from the RCC blood bank. The tests conducted in other labs after the controversy erupted also confirmed the HIV- positive status.
The girl was discharged from the RCC in November 2017 and she used to visit Alappuzha Medical College for change of blood. A student of the third standard, she died in the medical college hospital on Wednesday morning. The RCC officials denied the possibility of HIV infection and stated that a test of the blood samples held at a lab in Chennai had shown no signs of HIV infection. The RCC sent the blood sample for a second test to a lab in Delhi and is waiting for the results. The death of the girl took place before the result was available.
