TIRUPUR: Fearing threat to the life of their two-year-old daughter, who allegedly contracted HIV after a blood transfusion at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, the parents refused to take the child to the hospital for treatment scheduled for Monday.
Her father, Kumar (name changed), a powerloom worker in Tirupur said, “Our daughter starts vomiting whenever we try to feed her the medicine prescribed by the CMCH doctors. It is very distressing to see my child like this and we do not want to get her into trouble yet again by going to the government hospital.” The victim was admitted to CMCH on July 12, 2018, for a cardiac treatment when the blood transfusion happened, Kumar claimed. As the victim had recently developed pustules all over her body, she was admitted at CMCH on February 8. After the blood test, the doctors declared the child HIV positive.TNIE visited the family on Monday to check how the child and her family were faring.
“Many of the neighbours are now afraid to come to my house fearing that they could get HIV from my child. The way of approach among the people have changed a bit,” he lamented. The family has been residing near Mangalam in Tirupur for several years after they left their native town in Tiruchy. “I have been running my family after so many struggles. This is when another trouble came to my life with my child getting contracted with HIV.” Neither do the parents or her twin brother have HIV, Kumar said.
He said he did not have enough money to take his child to CMCH for treatment; he refused to take her fearing life threats.
Even though the medicines given by CMCH doctors are already over, the family is adamant not to take their child go to the hospital. “Anything could be done to my daughter there,” he added.When we took this issue with Collector K S Palanisamy, he told Express he will help sensitise the family to treat the child in the government hospital by sending in some resource persons.