8-yr-old girl with thalassemia gets HIV from blood donor

8-yr-old girl with thalassemia gets HIV from blood donor

An eight-year-old girl who has undergone blood transfusion for thalasemia (a blood disorder) at a hospital is in a more difficult plight after it emerged she had been given blood infected with AIDS.

Both parents of the girl have been proved negative, hinting the problem was with the transfused blood. The girl, from a poor family of Mananthavadi, has been receiving blood during treatment from the medical college hospital, Kozhikode, and district hospital, Mananthavadi.

The parents realized that the child is infected with HIV when a test was conducted on July 13 last at the taluk hospital, Pervaoor, Kannur. The shocked parents complained to the district medical officer, Wayanad, seeking a probe into the issue three months back.

Since then, the family kept the disease a secret.

The issue came to light when the kin of the child who approached the district medical officer on Friday was allegedly browbeaten by the DMO.

DYFI workers intervened in the issue and a sit-in was organized in front of the district hospital on Wednesday. The agitation was called off on an assurance from additional director (health) vigilance PN Ramani.