Tamil Nadu: Infected blood donor attempts to kill self at government hospital

The donor whose HIV-infected blood was transfused into a pregnant woman, attempted suicide by consuming rat poison at the government hospital in the Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu. He was undergoing treatment there, even as his family struggled to deal with the issue while the woman was shifted to Madurai government hospital for further treatment. The 19-year-old donor was found in a semi-conscious state on the hospital verandah on Wednesday and was treated. According to the doctors, he is out of danger and is being kept under constant monitoring and given counselling.

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court took up the matter on Thursday and directed the state government to file a status report by January 3. The vacation bench of Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice PT Asha took suo motu cognisance of the incident and sought a report on the action taken against the health officials after two advocates mentioned in the court.

The issue came to light when the donor called the government blood bank at Sivakasi on December 13 after learning that he was infected by the virus and told them not to use his blood, donated on November 30, for transfusion. He had donated blood because a relative of his needed it at the hospital, but since it wasn't needed at the hospital, it was sent on to the blood bank.

But by that time, the blood had already been transfused to the pregnant woman at a government hospital in Sattur in Virudhunagar district, as she was found to be anaemic during a prenatal check-up on December 3. The lab technicians had not conducted the mandatory tests and labelled the blood safe.

The woman's husband, has also refused a government job and instead sought treatment for wife and kid.