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Blood bank ex-staffer arrested 6 months after children get HIV ‘following blood transfusion’
Action comes months after Jharkhand HC pulled up police for not registering FIR
The incident dates back to October 2025, when five children undergoing regular treatment for thalassemia at the Chaibasa Sadar Hospital were allegedly administered infected blood from the hospital’s blood bank. (File Photo)
Nearly six months after five thalassemia-affected minors were found to have been infected with HIV, allegedly after blood transfers in Jharkhand’s Chaibasa, police have arrested a man in connection with the case.
The incident dates back to October 2025, when five children undergoing regular treatment for thalassemia at the Chaibasa Sadar Hospital were allegedly administered infected blood from the hospital’s blood bank. The alleged lapse came to light after a minor tested positive for HIV.
Subsequently, an investigation by Jharkhand Health Services discovered that four more kids tested positive for HIV.
With no FIR initially registered despite a complaint, the families of the affected children approached the Jharkhand High Court. In a hearing on February 4, the court took note of the allegations and observed that the complaint disclosed a cognisable offence. The petitioners argued that due to alleged acts and omissions by those in charge of the blood bank, the lives of the minors had been put at risk.
The court directed that a written complaint be submitted to the concerned police station and made it clear that the police are under a statutory obligation to register an FIR when a cognisable offence is disclosed. It also directed that a copy of the complaint be placed before the court after registration.
Following the court’s direction, an FIR was registered in February against Manoj Prasad, a former staff member of the blood bank operating within the Chaibasa Sadar Hospital premises. He was accused of being involved in the alleged transfusion of HIV-infected blood to the minors.
After a delay of two months since the FIR, the Jharkhand Police has arrested Prasad. A Chaibasa Sadar Police Station official who is also an investigative officer of the case, Pnakaj Chaoudhary, said that the FIR was registered against Prasad, who was allegedly involved in the blood transfusion case and that he has been arrested. He said that an investigation is ongoing and further action will depend on evidence regarding the role of other staff members and possible systemic lapses.
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Police have also seized the blood bank’s registers with the list of blood donors, which has to be submitted to the court in the hearing.
The father of one of the victims said, “Firstly, they gave our children HIV-infected blood, then they took no accountability. Then, we have also heard that the hospital authorities have allegedly tried to tamper with the evidence like the register of donors.”
He further said that his family was asked to leave their rented accommodation in Chaibasa town after their landlord learned about the child’s HIV case. “Since then, the district administration has not helped us to get a room on rent, and since October, my son has been forced to leave school. My son has been without studies for the last six months,” he said.
Another minor’s mother, who filed the complaint that led to the FIR, asked what had happened to the investigation that was conducted by the state and the central government. “So many officials came and went, but no one ever submitted the investigation report. When are we going to know who was the one who destroyed our children’s lives?” she asked.
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