Chennai: A pregnant woman was given blood transfusion with HIV-infected blood at a government hospital in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar district.
The transfusion of unscreened blood came to light when the 21-year-old man who had donated the blood underwent regular medical examination. After confirming the initial diagnosis, he immediately notified doctors of the blood donation drive he had participated in earlier.
Health department officials moved to inform the 23-year old woman, the wife of a daily wage earner, after paperwork confirmed she was the one who received the HIV-infected blood. Although, she was started on medication as precaution, the family can only wait till she gives birth to find out if baby has contracted HIV.
The officials laid the blame on the lab technician screening the donated blood. According to them, the technician was suspended.
Further investigation by the health department, however, revealed that the donor had been tested positive at another blood donation drive two years ago but the lab officials then had allegedly failed to keep the records and inform the donor, an NDTV report said.
The health department has ordered for a screening in all 14 blood banks in the district.
In the last two years, three technicians have been suspended for “lapses" in the neighbouring town of Sivakasi, reports said.
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