Mumbai
The National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) has said that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission via blood transfusion is less than 0.5% in the country since India follows the blood safety programme.
Updated : Jan 30, 2015, 07:15 AM IST
The National Aids Control Organisation (Naco) has said that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission via blood transfusion is less than 0.5% in the country since India follows the blood safety programme.
According to Maharashtra State Aids Control Society (MSACS), the HIV prevalence in blood transfusion is 0.01% in Maharashtra.
Dr Sanjay Jadhav, director of State Blood Transfusion Council, said, "We follow all safety procedures to ensure that the blood does not have HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Malaria and Syphilis infection. The infected blood unit is safely discarded."
The safety of blood transfusion was questioned following a recent RTI reply from Naco which states that nearly 1,000 people contracted the virus in Maharashtra due to transfusion of infected blood over the past five years.
Dr Sunil Khaparde, deputy director general and in-charge of ICTC and blood safety division in Naco, said: "The RTI reply referred to ICTC data which are not diagnosed and confirmed cases. These are self propagated.
Whenever in a voluntary blood donation a person tests positive for HIV, he is referred to ICTC for counselling."
Dr Khaparde further said that during counselling, due to the stigma attached with the disease, many tend to give blood transfusion as the possible reason behind them getting the virus.
Agreeing with Dr Khaparde, a senior officer from MSACS said that many a times they have tried to figure out the blood banks mentioned by the client but have failed to trace them. "In such interviews, it is difficult to nail any blood bank. Against whom should we take action in such cases? It is difficult to corroborate the client's statement."