23 Thalassemic children test HIV positive in Guj hospital

Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas said citing a report of the tests conducted on the children three days back.

“The pre-blood transfusion test conducted on them shows they were infected prior to admission in Junagadh civil hospital,” he said.

The children suffering from thalassemia visit the hospital from various towns of the district to avail the facility of blood transfusion which is offered twice a week free of cost.

“A probe has begun. The blood collected both from the blood bank and from donors has been sent for testing,” Junagadh Civil Hospital Superintendent G T Dayalu said.

“Patients might have been HIV positive even before coming here for blood transfusion,” he said.

The children might have been transfused HIV infected blood without conducting a proper test,a senior doctor of the hospital claimed.

Gujarat government has also launched an inquiry into how the children contracted the virus.

Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder in which body makes an abnormal form of haemoglobin and there is excessive destruction of red blood cells leading to anaemia.