Chennai: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), New Delhi, took suo motu cognizance of media reports that a teenage donor whose blood infected a pregnant woman with HIV, attempted suicide at his home in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday as the families struggled to deal with the tragedy and more details emerged of criminal negligence on the part of public health care personnel.
The commission issued a notice to the chief secretary, Tamil Nadu, calling for a detailed report in the matter including action taken against the guilty and relief/ counselling provided to the victims, within four weeks.
It observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, amount to violation of human rights of the victims of medical negligence. As reported, had proper action been taken by the authorities, when the donor was first recognized as a case of HIV+, the mishap could have been avoided.
Now both the donor and the recipient woman were passing through a trauma. The commission further observed that this reported painful incident had raised a serious issue regarding safe handling of blood samples, detection of diseases like HIV and transfusion of blood as per set standards by taking all precautions. A nationwide move was required to be taken to examine procedures so that the right to life of innocent people was not violated. Accordingly, the commission asked the secretary, Union ministry of health & family welfare, to call for a status report on the issue from all states/UTs and submit a report to the commission within six weeks, along with their comments thereon.
What action taken on officials, asks Madras HC
The Madras high court has initiated suo motu proceedings in the matter relating to an eight-month pregnant woman was allegedly administered HIV infected blood at Sattur government hospital in Virudhunagar district.
A division bench comprising Justices S.Vaidyanathan and P.T.Asha initiated suo motu proceedings after the incident was brought to their notice by two advocates on Thursday.
The bench ordered notice to the state health secretary and directed him to file a status report on the incident and the action taken against the erred officials by January 3.
The 24-year-old woman, who is expecting her second child, was being treated at a private hospital in Sattur. After the regular check up the woman was found to be anaemic and was advised to undergo blood transfusion to avoid complications during the delivery.
The woman underwent blood transfusion at the Sattur government hospital after the government hospital received the blood from a blood bank in Sivakasi two weeks ago. The blood was administered on the pregnant woman on December 3 and she was discharged on December 5.
Hailing from Ramanathapuram district, the blood donor was found to be HIV positive after he underwent a blood test for visa related medical check-up and was found to be HIV positive. He underwent another test at the Sivakasi government hospital and reports confirmed positive for both HIV and Hepatitis B.
The donor informed the hospital authorities at Sivakasi government hospital where he donated blood on November 30. It was found that the blood unit donated by him was transfused on the pregnant woman. The woman tested positive for HIV after medical check-up.
Three health workers of the government hospital blood bank in Siavakasi were suspended for negligence. The 19-year-old blood donor whose blood was used for the transfusion, attempted to commit suicide on Wednesday. He was rushed to Ramanathapuram government hospital and was stable now.
