The appalling VIMSAR blood transfusion row seems to have been repeated in the Baleswar District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) with a couple on Monday alleging before the district Collector that their four-year-old daughter was given Hepatitis C-affected blood and seeking financial help for treatment.
The girl, a thalassemia patient, had been administered blood affected with Hepatitis C virus, which was received from the DHH blood bank, during regular blood transfusion, parents told the Collector.
The couple said the blood of their daughter was detected with the Hepatitis C virus when she went for blood check up at the SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttack on May 28.
The test report found HCVAg (Hepatitis-C) positive in the girl’s blood. However, it was stated that it would be confirmed after an Elisa test.
The blood sample has been sent to Delhi through a private laboratory in Cuttack for further confirmation, informed the couple.
“If the test result is found with Hepatitis C virus, the Government should beat all treatment cost,” girl’s father Sk Sujud Alam said in his petition to the Collector. Alam is a TV and electronic gadgets mechanic by profession.
“I am shocked at the report. With meager income, I cannot bear treatment cost which will come around Rs 3.5 lakh,” Alam said.
Meanwhile, DHH blood bank Officer Basant Kumar Upaddhyaya refuted the charge.
“The blood collected by us is tested for five things, including for HIV and Hepatitis B and C. No infected blood is stored by us. There is no chance that we supply such bloods to patients,” said Upaddhyaya.