The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday ordered payment of ₹25 lakh as compensation to a woman from Sattur who was transfused with HIV-infected blood at a government hospital in December 2018. The court also ordered the State government to allocate additional funds to the woman for the construction of a house.
The court further directed that a suitable permanent job be given to the woman in the Class IV category within a period of three months from the date of the order, and added that she be provided free medical treatment and medicines.
A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S.S. Sundar observed that the floor area of the yet-to-be-built house should not be less than 450 sq. ft and the quality of construction should be as per Public Works Department specifications for accommodating Class IV employees. A compound wall should be built around the building, the court added.
Taking cognisance of the fact that counter-affidavits filed by the State government in the case did not allow for fixing responsibility on anyone and with no foolproof mechanism to ensure that HIV-infected blood was not transfused in future, the court laid out a set of directions.
It ordered that all posts, particularly those of counsellors, lab technicians, blood bank technicians, supervisors and staff nurses, shall be filled by the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS), the State Blood Transfusion Council (SBTC) and the AIDS Control Programme in the State by following the recruitment process recommended by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), with regard to educational qualifications and other eligibility criteria.
The State government will ensure proper monitoring of blood banks, Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) centres, including clinics and testing centres, and carry out regular inspections by qualified medical officers. There should be maintenance of proper records and availability of equipment, the court said.
The State government will take all corrective measures to ensure/ evolve a foolproof mechanism to test blood collected, both in government as well as private blood banks, for the five transfusion-transmissible infections — HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis and Malaria — apart from grouping and typing.
Further, the court directed the State government to conduct training programmes for counsellors with assistance from qualified specialists to ensure effective psychological support to help HIV-positive patients.
A government body shall be constituted for the purpose of evolving a foolproof mechanism/ procedure to collect, test and preserve blood units to prevent a repeat of transfusion of infected blood in government and private hospitals, the court said.
The court was hearing the batch of petitions filed in the wake of the blood transfusion incident.
The woman from Sattur tested positive for HIV after the blood of the donor who had the virus was transfused into her at a government hospital when she was pregnant, to treat anaemia. She delivered a girl child at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai in January.
During the course of an earlier hearing held in chambers, the woman informed the court that she was neglected by her husband, though he had given an undertaking to take care of her.
