The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed notice to the Health and Family Welfare department while hearing a public interest litigation petition which sought a safe blood policy for the State.
A Division Bench of Justices K. K. Sasidharan and P. D. Audikesavalu directed notice and sought a response in the case by January 22, until which time the case was adjourned. The court was hearing a PIL petition filed by Abbas Mandhiri of the Makkal Needhi Maiyam.
The petitioner said the unfortunate blood transfusion incident reported in Virudhunagar district had sent shock waves across the State. Lethargic attitude and supervisory lapses were to be blamed for the incident, he charged. This should be treated as a case of criminal negligence. The whole catastrophe could have been avoided if the blood bank staff, who knew that the donor was HIV-positive, had acted diligently.
The government should bring effective changes by way of a ‘Safe blood policy’ for the welfare of people. It should allot more funds for the GHs to procure advanced equipment and conduct HIV/AIDS awareness programmes.
‘ Videograph post-mortem’
A public interest litigation petition filed by advocate Arun Swaminathan before the High Court Bench sought a direction to videograph post-mortems across the State.
He complained that there were gross irregularities in the conduct of post-mortem. At times, certificates were dispatched without even examining the bodies. A cut-copy-paste procedure was followed while issuing certificates, he said.
The Tamil Nadu Medical Code must be followed in post-mortem. In order to avoid irregularities and petitions seeking re-post-mortems, a copy of the video could be sent to the judicial magistrate on the same day. Also, adequate scientific officers should be appointed in medical colleges to conduct fair and proper post-mortem, he said.
The Division Bench directed notice to the Health and Family Welfare department and adjourned the case.
