The Asian Age: Mumbai: Monday, December 28, 2015.
Every year,
hundreds fall prey to HIV infection through blood transfusion, states the data
given by National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco). However, medical experts
said many infected patients do not reveal their medical condition while
donating blood. But government bodies that monitor transfusion don’t have any
regulations to curb such incidences.
As per a
Right to Information application in possession with The Asian Age, the central
government body, Naco along with Mumbai Districts AIDS Control Society (MDACS)
that function under it don’t have any penal provision under the blood policy.
The person who filed the RTI application did not want to reveal his identity.
“We don’t
have any penal provision to stop such activities. If a donor deliberately donates
his infected blood, the medical expert on field won’t know about it. So, there
is no way to control such activities,” said Dr Srikala Acharya, director of
Mumbai State AIDS Control Society (Msacs).
“After blood
test, if we find any donor positive, we dispose the blood and contact the donor
for counseling. We advice such donors not to donate their blood again and take
precautionary measures,” she added.
As per an RTI
application filed by this reporter in 2014, around 1,000 people contracted HIV
in Maharashtra through blood transfusion between 2010-14. In the same period,
around 9,000 people got infected across India. The application was submitted to
the health ministry that passed it on to Naco. Section Officer and CPIO (blood
safety) V.K. Govil, in his reply provided data related to all states.
If a donor is
detected HIV positive, the blood bank concerned contacts the donor and informs
about any sero reactive result of transfusion transmitted infection, and then
he is referred to Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre for further post
donation confirmation and counseling. But lack of stringent provision, fails to
curb such infected donations, said the RTI applicant who did not want to be
named.
“Though such
cases are limited it does happen when a person knowing that he is HIV positive,
he deliberately donates the blood. This is most common during emergency time,
when a needy family of a patient buy matching blood group in exchange of
money,” he said. To meet the demand of rising blood transfusion, many hospitals
are now focusing on blood exchange policy.
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