As a National AIDS Control Organisation team visiting Junagadh Civil Hospital was winding up last weeks probe into how 23 children with thalassaemia had contracted HIV,the father of one child was a few steps away. Yet he was too busy and too tired to care about the cause any longer,all his efforts now concentrated on the treatment of his four-month-old daughter. For two months,I did move from pillar to post to find out how my daughter had contracted HIV, said Salim Sheikh,32,who went to Gandhinagar three times in 20 days to take up the matter of the 23 children. Now my girls health is failing and she needs my complete attention. Teams will come and go. But my daughter has a fever and her blood transfusion too is due. I need to take her to a doctor, said Sheikh,who runs a tea stall right outside the hospital but who showed no interest in what the probe team was doing,even when it called him. The parents of many of the 23 children,who tested HIV-positive between January and August,failed to meet the team. Barely educated and struggling to make ends meet,most live in villages across Junagadh district and had registered their children with the hospital,the closest and the most affordable facility for the blood transfusions that are needed periodically. We cannot afford to travel to Junagadh so frequently. That costs us almost a days meal. I would rather save it for my sons medical bills, said a daily wager from Vanthli whose son has tested HIV-positive and who now fears that this will threaten his younger daughters future. Junagadh policeman Shailesh Balash is among the few who remain vocal about the need to unearth the truth. So far the state health department itself investigated the matter. We hope the outside agency will bring out the truth, said Balash,whose HIV-positive son is 10. The Gujarat governments response had upset many parents,who tried to meet the chief minister but failed. It took a month for the state heath department to transfer four employees of the hospitals blood bank out of the district,and even this was described as routine. Seven laboratory technicians were dismissed only the day before the arrival of the NACO team,with local authorities saying the termination orders came from Gandhinagar. The revelation about the HIV infection came after Salim Sheikh had approached Salim Gujarati,a volunteer who helps out at the hospital and who,along with a new doctor,brought out the records. The infection had been detected in January when a doctor decided to carry out HIV tests on all thalassaemic children registered in the ward. From January to August,23 children tested positive, said Gujarati. But for the support of some staff members,we could not have brought the matter out in the open. Once the matter became public,civil surgeon Dr B T Dayalu gave out various versions. From 33 in the morning,the number of HIV-positive children was brought down to 23. By evening,Health Minister Jaynararan Vyas confirmed 23 infected children but said they had been infected prior to admission to the government hospital. The authorities had given the hospital a clean chit,stunning parents. The state probe began on September 11,with a three-member team led by regional deputy director Dr Sunil Awasia and helped by the Gujarat State AIDS Control Society. That report is yet to be made public. Parents who tried to meet Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad on September 18,the second day of his Sadbhavana Mission fast,were sent back by security personnel. The police gave them forced escort all the way back to Junagadh. Last week,parents met Governor Dr Kamla Beniwal,the meeting having been arranged by the Congress. The Congress has demanded Rs 5 lakh as government compensation and raised Rs 23 lakh,the funds including Rs 23,000 per child from the party-run Junagadh Municipal Corporation. More than compensation,the truth should come out,the guilty should be punished, said Balash. Parental Pains Salim Sheikh played a key role in exposing the mass infection; he had approached a volunteer,who then took a doctors help to come out with records. Today,Sheikh no longer has the time or the energy to look for reasons. Occupied in the treatment of his HIV-positive,eight-month-old daughter,he has shown no interest in a probe by a national team though he was called for his version. Rasik Ranava,a daily wager of Junagadh city,who lost his elder son to thalassaemia five years ago,is struggling to afford the treatment of the younger son,not only thalassaemic but HIV-positive too. He earns Rs 250 a day. Blood transfusion is free but drugs and other expenses come to Rs 2000 to 3,000. I think I will need to work more to meet the expenses of the new disease, he said. Jivu Jaffars son,5,and daughter,4,tested HIV-positive in March and July. Her husband,a factory worker,needs at least two days leave every week. They have so many complications that we need to keep seeing the doctor, Jivu said. She works as a domestic help but some employers grumble about her absence,she said,wishing she could spend more time with the children. Shailesh Balashs son has lived on transfusions for nine of his 10 years. A constable with the Junagarh police,Balash said,I can challenge the claim that the children were affected before registration with JCH. I have all the records,but theres hardly anyone to listen. He cautioned the government against a cover-up,saying that unless the mistake is rectified,other lives could be at stake.
