MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday closed a batch of petitions filed seeking justice for a woman who contracted HIV after being inadvertently transfused with contaminated blood at a government hospital in 2019.
A bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel disposed of the petitions after government counsel said the arrears of monthly assistance, which the court had directed to be paid to the woman from 2021 onwards, had been disbursed to her.
The victim had contracted HIV while taking treatment for anemia in a government hospital in Sattur during her pregnancy. After the incident came to light, the High Court ordered the government to pay Rs 25 lakh compensation and provide her with a house, a two-wheeler, and a government job, among other things.
While the above directions were complied with, the government failed to implement the orders passed by the court on December 22 and 23, 2020, in which the court had directed the state government to pay Rs 7,500 above monthly assistance to the victim from January 2021 onwards. The said orders had been passed based on a certificate issued by a government doctor that the victim has to spend Rs 250 to Rs 300 per day towards nutrition to boost her immunity.
In the previous hearing on September 2, the court noted that the monthly assistance was paid for six months and thereafter it was discontinued. The judges had directed the authorities to pay the pending amount and report to the court. Pursuant to this, the government counsel informed the court that the arrears till August 2026 were paid to the victim, following which the bench closed the petitions.