MADURAI: In a relief to the 23-year-old woman who contracted HIV after being transfused with contaminated blood, State Department of Health and Family Welfare provided her with a permanent government job.
According to a Government Order dated June 6, the Department of Health and Family Welfare directed the Director of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS) to appoint the woman as an office assistant.
The GO that was issued based on the recommendations of Project Director of Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS) Dr K Senthil Raj and the DMS further mentioned that the appointment should be made in any one of the vacancies available within the directorate of Medical and Rural Health
Services (in a place of her choice). Sources said that the woman who received the appointment letter a couple of days ago, was likely to join work this week. Earlier in December, the woman who was then eight-months pregnant with her second child was transfused with HIV-infected blood at Government Sattur Hospital. After the incident came to light, the woman was admitted to a specially-created ward in GRH for exclusive treatment free of cost. At the hospital, she gave birth to a baby girl in January. The newborn was tested HIV negative in March.
After 100 days, the mother-daughter duo was discharged from GRH in the first week of April. The next day, she took up the temporary job offered by TANSACS and joined work (on contract-basis) at the District AIDS Prevention and Control Unit (DAPCU) in Virudhunagar. She is still receiving Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) treatment as outpatient in Virudhunagar and Madurai districts.
Though she received the permanent government job, the woman is still waiting for the house as promised by the authorities earlier.
Virudhunagar Collector A Sivagnanam, in December, had ordered the construction of a house (on patta land) at Padanthal under Chief Minister’s Solar Powered Green House Scheme (CMSPGHS). The construction work that came to a standstill for two months owing to the Model Code of Conduct is said to be going at a snail pace now. The collector was unavailable for comment.
On the other hand, suo moto proceedings initiated by Justices N Kirubakaran and SS Sundar of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court in March on the relief to be provided by the State to the woman are pending. In the last hearing on March 27, the Court had sought response from the State government on payment of compensation to the woman.
The story so far...
December 3, 2018 - The woman transfused with one unit of HIV-infected blood at government hospital in Sattur
December 17, 2018 - She tests positive for HIV at the government hospital in Virudhunagar after the 19-year-old blood donor informed the authorities of his HIV status
December 26, 2018 - A day after the incident came to light, the woman admitted to specially-created ward in GRH for exclusive treatment
December 27, 2018 - A series of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests performed on the woman reconfirm HIV and Hepatitis B infection
January 17, 2019 - The woman delivers a baby girl through normal delivery. Since the baby is underweight (1.75 kg), the newborn shifted to baby warmer in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
January 30, 2019 - Newborn discharged from NICU and handed over to the mother
March 4, 2019 - Blood samples of the infant taken to perform Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) in order to ascertain the HIV status
March 9, 2019 - Baby develops breathing trouble and gets admitted to NICU again
March 13, 2019 - The parents were informed that the baby tested negative for HIV infection
March 30, 2019 - The baby discharged from NICU and handed over to the mother
April 04, 2019 - Mother-daughter duo discharged from GRH
April 05, 2019 - Woman joins temporary work at DAPCU
June 13, 2019 - She receives letter of appointment from the State Health Department