MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Tamil Nadu State Aids Control Society (TANSACS) to disburse the arrears of Rs 7,500 monthly assistance payable to a Sattur woman who contracted HIV after being inadvertently transfused with contaminated blood at a government hospital in 2019.
The then division bench of the court, through orders passed on December 22 and 23, 2020, had directed the state government to pay the above monthly assistance to the victim from January 2021 onwards. The said bench passed the order after a government doctor gave a certificate that the victim has to spend Rs 250 to Rs 300 per day towards nutrition to boost up her immunity.
However, when a batch of petitions filed seeking relief for the victim was listed on Wednesday for reporting compliance, the counsel representing TANSACS admitted that the above monthly assistance was paid to the woman only for a period of six months and thereafter it was discontinued. The counsel said TANSACS would not be able to bear the cost and expressed an intention to file a review petition against the order.
However, a bench of justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel opined that paying the assistance properly is the least that could be done for the victim and directed TANSACS to pay the pending monthly assistance and report to the court at the next hearing on September 17.
The victim had contracted HIV while taking treatment for anaemia in a government hospital in Sattur during her pregnancy.