Probe into HIV case

MUMBAI, Aug 18: An inquiry has been ordered into the allegation that a 13-year-old boy contracted the HIV virus while being treated at Bhagwati Municipal Hospital at Borivli, Mayor Nandu Satam informed the general body on Tuesday.

The issue was raised by Samajwadi Party’s Yakub Memon. Vinod Gupta was brought to Bhagwati after he fell from a local train, Memon informed. He received 11 bottles of blood there. However, he was later shifted to B Y L Nair Hospital for further treatment, where he was administered four bottles of blood. When the doctors conducted his blood test, they realised that Vinod was HIV positive. A test of the blood bottles at Nair revealed that they were not infected. The corporation has ordered that blood samples from the 11 bottles administered at Bhagwati be tested.

Vinod’s parents have also been asked to submit their medical bills said Satam. The father, who was a hawker outside a railway station and is now jobless after the BMC drive, has also been offered a job.