THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A probe has been initiated into how a nine-year-old girl undergoing treatment at the Regional Cancer Centre was infected with HIV, which the family members alleged is supposed to have happened during blood transfusion. The police, as well as the Health Department, have initiated an investigation based on the complaint from the family members of the girl. Health Minister K K Shylaja has asked the RCC director to probe the issue and submit a report at the earliest.
The police, under Kazhakootam Assistant Commissioner A Pramod Kumar, have slapped charges of negligence against the staff of the RCC. The girl’s father told ‘Express’ the test results at the Medical College confirm she has been infected with HIV. ‘’We took her to a government hospital in Alappuzha on February 27. The doctors there referred her to the Alappuzha Medical College. As there was much variation in the blood count, she was referred to the RCC. From March 1, she is under treatment at the RCC,’’ he said.
The girl was found to be infected with HIV when her blood was tested prior to a surgery related to an eye disease recently. When there was such a suspicion, the doctors at the RCC asked all the three of us (parents and the child) to undergo a test at the Medical college. ‘’We were tested HIV negative and while our daughter’s was positive. We have not treated her in any of the hospitals and no blood transfusion was done anywhere. It was only in RCC that blood transfusion was done,” he said. The father said that he had given a complaint to the Health Minister on September 1.
Govt appoints high-level probe team
T'Puram: The government has appointed a high-level probe team under Joint DME Dr Sreekumari to probe into the allegation of a child admitted to the RCC getting infected with HIV. It has to be noted the team will not comprise experts or doctors from Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram Medical Colleges and the RCC. Experts from Blood bank and Pathology are also part of the team. Health Minister K K Shylaja said the government would bear expenses of further treatment of the child. Meanwhile, a statement from the RCC said it has started an internal inquiry into the incident.
It said the child was admitted to the RCC on March 1. Though the child was not found to be HIV positive in the blood test conducted on March 3, she was found to be positive in the test on August 25. The child was referred to the medical college for further tests on HIV and was confirmed to be infected with HIV. It also said the blood bank at the RCC had the license of the Central Drug Standards Control Organisation and blood transfusion is done here only after undergoing all the mandatory checks.