In a bid to find out how the nine-year-old RCC patient contracted HIV during treatment, the State police are slated to examine the blood of at least 12 donors.
Investigators said the Kerala AIDS Control Society would test them at its facility. They said the child’s guardians had produced 12 persons to donate blood to their ward while she underwent chemotherapy for leukaemia. Efforts were on to trace them and test them for HIV.
Conflicting accounts
The police said there were conflicting accounts of how and where the girl contracted HIV. Initial tests need not reveal the infection, which often manifests late. Hence, one theory is the child could have contracted it during her treatment at other clinics before her admission to the RCC.
The police were also verifying the blood collection protocol at RCC and the private hospitals where the child was treated. The morbid incident has raised the question of safety of patients undergoing blood transfusion at hospitals.
Bharatiya Janata Party national executive member V. Muraleedharan has urged the State government to bring those responsible for the child’s plight to justice. He also said the State should take steps to allay the fear the incident had caused in public. Moreover, the State should compensate the family and ensure free medical care for the child.