Anoopgarh, Rajasthan children get contaminated blood

[Guest guest]

The fight against HIV/AIDS is at peak but some times incidences like this

shatter our hopes.

Anoopgarh town of Shri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan has witnessed a typical

case of negligence and probably moneymaking venture when some children have been

transfused with HIV infected blood.

There is only one blood bank at the district headquarter which is capable of

distributing tested blood but the nearby private clinics are procuring and using

unchecked blood for their surgery patients.

The health secretary of the sate is rushing for an enquiry while police has

already arrested the laboratory technician involved in the case.

The Doctor who did the blood transfusions is absconding.

The police and the Health department are investigating other transfusion cases

also so as to ensure whether the transfused blood came from the local blood bank

or from any unreliable source.

Testing of donated blood for HIV antibodies is a must in India and only tested

blood can be used for the transfusions.

The risk of HIV transfusion through infected blood products exceeds that of any

other risk exposure and ninety percent of recipients transfused with HIV

antibody-positive blood are found to be HIV infected at follow-up.

Jasvinder Sehgal

e-mail: <jasvindersehgal@...>