Four children suffering from thalassemia have allegedly tested HIV positive at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district, allegedly due to contaminated blood transfusions, officials said Tuesday. These alleged incidents have become a political flashpoint in the state, with Opposition Congress calling it governance failure.
The incident is nearly four months old and has come to public attention only now. An investigation is underway to determine whether the infection was caused by contaminated blood transfusions or the use of infected needles during treatment, officials said.
The affected children, aged between 12 and 15 years, were receiving regular blood transfusions from the hospital’s blood bank, as required for thalassemia patients. Some of the children have undergone as many as 80 to 100 blood transfusions, officials said.
Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla said that an investigation into the incident is underway.
“On the Satna incident, officials have discussed the matter with experts and the district collector. Thalassemia patients require blood transfusions two to three times a month. Records are being collected to determine where transfusions took place, as patients may also visit private centres. A committee has been formed under the supervision of the Principal Secretary, and strict action will be taken once responsibility is fixed,” Shukla said.
The deputy chief minister said the government “is firm that no negligence will be tolerated, especially when extensive campaigns are underway against thalassemia, sickle cell disease and TB”.
Devendra Patel, in-charge of the blood bank at the Satna district hospital, confirmed that four children have tested HIV positive. “Either an infected needle was used or a blood transfusion occurred. These are the two main possibilities. Blood transfusion appears to be the most likely cause,” Patel told PTI.
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District authorities said the blood bank records are being scrutinised and the probe is continuing. However, four months after the incident, the failure to clearly establish responsibility or identify the source of infection has raised serious questions about oversight in the state’s public healthcare system.
The delay in detection and the failure to trace the source of infection have “intensified concerns over blood screening and monitoring systems at the hospital,” said a senior health official. “As per mandatory protocol, every blood unit must be tested for HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C before transfusion,” the official said.
The incident has sparked political outrage, with the Opposition Congress demanding accountability. Congress MLA and former minister Sachin Yadav said such incidents were becoming alarmingly frequent in Madhya Pradesh.
“Earlier, there was the toxic cough syrup case in Chhindwara, then rat bite incidents in hospitals in Indore and Satna, and now children have been given HIV-infected blood,” he said.
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Senior Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma also termed the episode a failure of governance.
“Somewhere rats are roaming in hospitals, somewhere children are being given HIV-infected blood. Instead of preventing HIV, the system is spreading it,” he said, alleging that the state government was disconnected from ground realities.
–With PTI inputs