The detection of HIV in an eight-and-a-half- year-old girl suffering from thalassaemia, allegedly after transfusion of infected blood either at the District Hospital here or the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, sent shock waves across the medical industry in the State on Wednesday.
According to Health officials, the girl, daughter of an autorickshaw driver from Arattuthara near here, has been dependent on monthly blood transfusions since the age of two.
The child was tested positive for HIV seven months back at the MCH after she was admitted to the hospital with bouts of fever and itchy skin. The doctors immediately got her parents tested for HIV, but the result was negative.
The family kept the result a secret fearing social segregation and ignominy.
The incident came to light when the parents, who suspected that the doctors might have transfused infected blood, approached Health Minister V S Sivakumar and lodged a complaint two days ago as per the advice of one of their relatives.
The victim’s five-year-old brother also suffers from thalassaemia and has been undergoing treatment at both the MCH and District Hospital.
Meanwhile, the victim’s father demanded that the staff at the District Hospital, Mananthavady, should be held responsible for the incident. “She has been undergoing frequent blood transfusions for the past six years.”