Hyderabad: 3-year-old thalassemia patient tests HIV positive, blood bank booked

Hyderabad: A three-year-old boy, a thalassemia patient who was regularly undergoing blood transfusion, tested positive for HIV with the Nallakunta police now booking a case against a blood bank at Vidyanagar on charges of transferring HIV-infected blood to the boy.

According to the police, a three-year-old boy from Rampally village in Ranga Reddy district was suffering from thalassemia since the age of seven months. The family used to approach the blood bank at Vidyanagar for blood transfusion every fortnight.

“On July 20, the child came to the blood bank along with his parents for blood transfusion. The paramedics conducted a HIV test and found the child had tested positive for HIV,” the Nallakunta police said, adding that the shocked parents said they were visiting the blood bank regularly for blood transfusion and every two months the HIV test was done. So far, the result was never positive.

The police questioned the doctors at the blood bank and they said that on a few instances, the family had taken the child to other hospitals for blood transfusion. The doctors further claimed that before collecting the blood from donors, they do several tests to ensure the donor did not have any disease.

The police are investigating.