Post office alarmed over carrying AIDS blood sample cards

[Guest guest]

Post office alarmed over carrying AIDS blood sample cards

Parel postman, who actually delivered the Dried Blood Spot cards to KEM

Hospital, petrified; department protests lack of warning about risk factor

October 18, Manohar Khare, a postman attached to Parel Post Office, says he

would have taken precautions if he had known what the cards contained

Post office authorities have hit the panic button as they were not warned before

delivering cards with dried blood samples of high AIDS risk individuals to KEM

Hospital. Their fear is that postal employees may have been exposed to risk,

especially as 1,200 of the 8,000 samples tested positive for AIDS.

From June to August this year, KEM Hospital received around 8,000

strange-looking postcards through Speedpost. While the receivers, Maharashtra

State AIDS Control Society (MSACS), knew that the Dried Blood Spot (DBS) cards

contained – blood samples, mostly of sex workers for AIDS testing, Manohar

Khare, a postman attached to Parel Post Office, was completely clueless.

Once Khare came to know what he had carried, and that many of the samples

actually tested positive, he was petrified. " I wish I had known about the cards.

At least I would have taken some precautions, " said a scared Khare.

His bosses at the General Post Office (GPO) too are agitated that one of their

own was made to carry a " dangerous " parcel without any warning.

" The agency should have informed us about the infectious and dangerous parcels.

We would have checked the safety aspect and warned our postmen too to handle

them with care. If not handled properly, such parcels can spell doom for our

men, " said Shobha Madhale, director of GPO Mumbai.

Meanwhile, MSACS says that there is no reason for the GPO to worry over the DBS

cards. In the West, the cards are used to send blood samples from different

locations to a particular testing facility.

So, there is no need to set up multiple testing facilities. While in other

countries the concept is doing phenomenally well, the cards were brought to

India only this year by the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), a central

agency. In March, they were handed over to MSACS, which wanted to check their

feasibility in Maharashtra.

" To find out if DBS cards would work in our state, we decided to conduct trials.

First, we trained 100 people from different agencies across the state to collect

blood samples in a specific manner. Then, the samples were dispatched using DBS

cards, " said Dr Lakshmi Pillai, Deputy Director, MSACS. Over 8,000 samples of

people who are susceptible to AIDS were thus collected and dispatched to KEM

Hospital, which has the requisite testing facility. But while dispatching the

samples, MSACS forgot to inform the Department of Posts about the sensitive

nature of the parcels.

DBS cards are used to send blood samples from different locations to a

particular testing facility

Madhale is absolutely sure that from now on, no more DBS cards will be handled

by the department, at least until they are convinced that the parcels are safe.

" We will check if the cards are packed well, so that our postmen do not get

infected. Also, we will have to confirm that they do not come under our

prohibited items list, " she added.

This could spell doom for MSACS, which intends to use the cards again for a

special programme to be implemented across the state from November 1. " DBS cards

are safely packed in Ziploc plastic bags and then sealed in an envelope. The

blood samples on the card are dried thoroughly using a special technique. There

is no way that a person handling it would get infected, " said Dr Pillai.

Dr Preeti Mehta, Head, Microbiology Department, KEM Hospital, who handled the

project for MSACS, added, " The entire process of handling the DBS cards,

collecting samples etc, is done by highly trained individuals. There is no scope

for error. " She explained that of the 8,000 samples received through DBS, not

one was damaged.

However, faced with an ultimatum from the postal department, MSACS has decided

to take them into confidence before using the cards again. " We will make a

proper presentation to the GPO to gain their trust and confidence, " assured Dr

Pillai.

http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article & sectid=48 & contentid=20091\

0182009101817491421841303d79 & sectxslt=