Terming the incident medical negligence, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued notices to the Union Health Ministry and the Tamil Nadu government over HIV-infected blood being given to a pregnant woman, leading to the donor attempting suicide.
Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports published on Thursday, the NHRC issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government Chief Secretary asking for a detailed report within four weeks. The NHRC sought to know the action taken against those responsible as well as measures for relief and counselling of the victims.
“It has observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, amount to violation of human rights of the victims of medical negligence. As reported, had proper action been taken by the authorities when the donor was first recognised as a case of HIV+, the mishap could be avoided. Now both, the donor and the recipient woman are passing through a trauma,” an NHRC statement read.
The NHRC added that the incident had raised concerns over safe handling of blood samples, detection of diseases and transfusion of blood.
Stating that there was need for a national-level examination of the processes involved, the NHRC asked the Union Health Secretary to submit a report with details from all states and union territories within six weeks.
According to the media reports, the NHRC said, a teenager had donated blood at a camp in the Sattur area of Virudhunagar district in Tamil Nadu in 2016 and his blood was found to be HIV positive. Though the counsellors called him up and asked him to report to the centre, they did not pursue the case when he did not show up.
“The same donor donated blood again on November 30, 2018, at the Sattur Government Hospital, and it was labelled safe by the lab technicians. The same blood was given to a woman who had come to the hospital for ante-natal checks and was advised blood transfusion by the doctors,” the NHRC statement read.
Four days later, the donor tested positive for HIV at a private hospital in Madurai and was referred to the Sattur government hospital. The victim then lodged a complaint against unknown doctors and nurses, seeking action against them.
