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CBI begins probe into thalassemic children case
The Central Bureau of Investigation has started a probe into the case of 23 thalassaemic children contracting HIV, allegedly during blood transfusion at Junagadh civil hospital in Gujarat in September last year.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has started a probe into the case of 23 thalassaemic children contracting HIV, allegedly during blood transfusion at Junagadh civil hospital in Gujarat in September last year.
Two of the children who contracted HIV have died. It is not known, as of now, if they died of HIV infection or thalassaemia, a blood related genetic disorder in which patients require regular blood transfusion.
“As per the Gujarat high court order, we have started the probe in the case,” Deepak Damor, CBI SP in Gandhinagar, said on Tuesday.
Aggrieved parents have alleged their children were given contaminated blood from a local Sarvodaya Blood Bank run by a trust headed by Junagadh MLA Mahendra Mashru of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
“I used to take my 11-year-old son Rohit for blood transfusion to the civil hospital. It is their negligence that led to my son getting infected with HIV,” Ravjibhai Sondarva from Junagadh, 350 km west of Ahmedabad, said on Tuesday.
Ashish Kanabar, whose seven-year-old daughter Sakshi too contracted HIV, also charged the hospital staff with negligence.
The hospital authorities had first admitted to a lapse on their part, but later retracted, saying the children had received blood from multiple sources and contracted HIV before receiving the last dose at their facility.
