MADURAI: A day after the incident of a pregnant woman being transfused with HIV+ blood came to light, the 23-year-old victim from Sattur was shifted to a specially-created ward at Government Rajaji Hospital on Wednesday.
State Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan said that the government had already started revamping the blood safety protocol and the draft was expected to be ready in 45 days. “The revamped protocol would plug the loopholes in screening blood samples,” he added.
After reviewing the arrangements made for the eight-month pregnant woman and her family members at the hospital, Radhakrishnan told media persons that as directed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, a preliminary inquiry was conducted on Tuesday. “The woman’s husband has put forth three demands to the government - advanced medical treatment, prevention of spread of infection to the foetus and prevention of occurrence of similar incidents in the future,” he pointed out.
The health secretary said that a special team led by the head of department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at GRH Dr C Shanthi was formed to reassess, exclusively treat and monitor the health condition of the woman. He reassured that all possible steps were being taken to prevent the infection from spreading to the foetus. Terming it as an incident of human error, he said that all parameters were being considered and nothing would be ruled out in order to plug loopholes.