Madhya Pradesh: Thalassemia Patients Contracting HIV

Bhopal: Three government blood bank officials were on Friday suspended in connection with the shocking incident of five children contracting HIV after blood transfusion in the district hospital in Satna in Madhya Pradesh.

The former civil surgeon of the district hospital, Satna, Dr Manoj Shukla was also issued show cause notice seeking an explanation for alleged administrative and supervisory lapses, official sources said here on Friday.

The health officials who were placed under suspension are in-charge of the blood bank Dr Devendra Patel, and two lab technicians, Ram Bhai Tripathy and Nandlal Pandey.

The action was taken based on the preliminary findings of a seven-member committee constituted by the state health and family welfare department to probe the matter, officials said.

The committee in its preliminary report submitted to the state health and family welfare department has found lapses in the blood screening and related procedures, a government official said.

The action taken was part of the ‘immediate corrective measures to prevent recurrence of such an incident’, the official said.

Sources said that 200 donors of blood are under scrutiny of the committee in connection with the incident.

“List of 200 donors in the blood bank of district hospital, Satna, was taken by the committee to verify each case”, a senior government official said.

Six children, suffering from thalassemia, had tested HIV positive after blood transfusion in district hospital, Satna, and other places in Rewa and Jabalpur in the state between March and June this year.

Parents of one of the patients were found to be HIV positive, official sources said.

Meanwhile, Congress on Friday suspected that the nexus of drug addicts, middlemen and some officials of the blood bank led to the tragedy.

Congress leader Vikram Bhuria demanded an audit of all the government blood banks in the state.