Man files RTI plea to know blood group after tests throw up different results

Times of India: New Delhi: Wednesday, May 23, 2018.

It was a plea with a difference that the Central Information Commission heard while adjudicating a case by a man wanting to know his blood group. The RTI application was filed after tests threw up different results about the appellant’s blood type.

The RTI was to the Medical Council of India (MCI). The plea included reports of tests conducted at different government hospitals and private labs which gave “completely different results” of Rahul Chitra’s blood group. Some tests revealed his RH factor was positive, while it was found negative in others, said the RTI application filed by an associate of Chitra.

Rhesus (Rh) factor is an inherited protein found on the surface of red blood cells. If a person’s blood has the protein, his/her Rh factor is positive, and if not, it’s Rh is negative. Rh positive is the most common blood type.

Once the MCI rejected the application, Chitra along with the RTI applicant approached the commission, where Chitra said that he had undergone blood tests at four different pathological labs in Agra and at the district hospital. The tests showed he has two blood types: B positive, B negative.

He said a test conducted at Pant Hospital in Delhi showed his blood group was B positive. “If, during an emergency, I require blood transfusion, which blood group would be given to me,” questioned Chitra during the hearing before information commissioner Yashovardhan Azad. The commissioner noted that the issue was “serious in nature and pertains to Chitra’s life”. “There is no clarity on Rahul Chitra’s blood group. It’s a serious question as to which blood group should be given to him in case of an emergency. It becomes even more important as information sought is linked to his Right to Life,” Azad said.

Azad rejected the MCI’s contention that the question does not come under the definition of “information” which can be sought under the RTI Act and asked the CPIO to transfer the application to director, AIIMS. “The commission has concluded that AIIMS can do proper inquiry and inform the applicant,” Azad said.

The information commissioner rejected MCI’s contention that the question doesn’t come under the definition of ‘information’, which can be sought under the RTI Act.