Calcutta: 30 children infected with HIV through blood transfusion

[Guest guest]

Blood poisons 30 children - Ugly head of HIV in transfusion

AMIT UKIL AND BAPPA MAJUMDAR

Calcutta, June 8: Ananda Saha (name changed), the three-year-old boy

from Habra, is not the only person in the state who has been infected

with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, through blood transfusion.

At least 30 other children, and one or two adults as well, who are

patients of either thalassaemia or haemophilia, have become HIV

positive. These patients frequently require transfusion of blood

products that are supposed to be screened thoroughly by blood banks.

The bulk of the detections has taken place at the School of Tropical

Medicine, where 28 persons suffering from thalassaemia and

haemophilia have been found to be HIV positive after the confirmatory

test.

" We have treated a few such patients once their condition required

admission. Most of them have been thalassaemia children as they

require transfusion more frequently than haemophiliacs, " said B.K.

Saha, head of the department of medicine at the school's hospital.

Most of these patients are from low-income families and have mostly

had their blood transfusions done either at NRS hospital (like

Ananda) or at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.

Two of the 160 patients undergoing treatment under the aegis of the

Thalassaemia Foundation were detected HIV positive when tests were

conducted at the All India Institute of Public Health & Hygiene. " One

person is about 22, while the other is four or five years old, " said

Debabrata Pal of the institute's microbiology department.

The Haemophilia Society knows of three of its members who have become

HIV positive after being administered contaminated blood products.

" Low-income families take their children to NRS hospital because it

was, for some time, the only government hospital that had a

specialised unit under the thalassaemia community control programme

of the Indian Council of Medical Research, " said Sailen Ghosh,

president of Thalassaemia and AIDS Prevention Society.

This would explain why NRS is the common place of contamination. Now,

Medical College has a unit, too.

The recent death of seven-year-old Raju Sahuji of Basirhat, of AIDS-

related complications, has shattered his parents. He was responding

to thalassaemia treatment but infection through blood transfusion led

to his death. Like Ananda, he was also detected HIV positive while

undergoing treatment at NRS.

" Raju's parents had come to us after they were told about his

infection, " said D. Ashis, secretary of Medical Bank, a voluntary

organisation. " They asked us what could be done. We could only

promise taking it up with the health department. "

In May 2001 an inquiry was ordered by the health department after

four thalassaemia children, being treated at NRS hospital, were

detected with HIV. But the probe drew a blank.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040609/asp/frontpage/story_3350061

[Guest guest]

A shocked response to the article " Blood poisons 30 children - Ugly

head of HIV in transfusion "

The article is extremely shocking. It is such a pity that the health

care system in West Bengal seems to be deteriorating day by day and

the brunt is being borne by children from the economically backward

sections of the society. First babies die mysteriously at a well-

known government hospital in the city of Kolkata and now this.

I wonder what can possibly be done to ensure a safe, hazard-free

treatment to the children. Most of the umpteen number of conferences

that keep taking place all the time never seem to come out with

workable solutions.

A recent article (June 13th 2004) in The Times of India, Kolkata

talks about the WBSACS' initiative to control the epidemic with

subsidized testing rates. How on earth are we going to be able to

make any innovative approach succeed if the basic premises are shaky?

I think the media and NGOs need to join hands and pressurize the

govt. to take greater care.

Ms. Chirantani Dey

E-mail: <chirantani.dey@...>