17 months on, police book 2 lab technicians
THE VIGILANCE BUREAU INVESTIGATION SAYS STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE WAS NOT FOLLOWED WHILE ISSUING BLOOD TO THALASSAEMIC PATIENT
BATHINDA: Police have registered a case against two medical laboratory technologists 17 months after a minor thalassaemia patient was infused with HIV-infected blood at Bhai Shaheed Bhai Mani Civil Hospital, Bathinda, for alleged negligence.
The action was taken on the basis of a complaint filed by the state Vigilance Bureau (VB).
A first information report (FIR) was registered at the Kotwali police station against medical laboratory technicians Gurpreet Singh Godara and Gurbhej Singh under Sections 269 (whosoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which he knows or has reason to believe to be and is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and 270 (which covers persons who malignantly do any act which is likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Second FIR in two years
It was the second FIR in the last two years where five persons, including four thalassaemia patients aged between 7 and 13, being treated at the district hospital were found HIV positive after blood transfusion.
In December 2020, the state health department had tasked the VB’s Bathinda unit to investigate the possibilities of a nexus between the hospital staff and others behind the repeated cases of wrong blood transfusion at the government-run blood bank.
Report was submitted in December
The bureau’s Bathinda unit submitted the report in December and it took the VB headquarters four months to accept the findings.
In its probe, the VB found that Godara did not conduct ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) test when a volunteer, who was later found to be infected with HIV, donated blood at a government-run facility on October 20, 2020. Records say Godara refrigerated the donated blood without testing it in accordance with the safety rules.
A few days later on November 7, a family from a village near Bathinda city reached the hospital for a regular blood transfusion of their thalaessemic son, but another medical laboratory technologist Gurbhej issued the infected blood to the young patient without checking the details.
The VB investigators said had Gurbhej checked the official record, he could have easily spotted that the standard operating procedure (SOP) was not followed under which blood taken from a donor is to mandatorily undergo a safety test.
The bureau concluded that the police should investigate the role of another medical laboratory technologist, Ajay, who conducted the blood cross-check on the patient.
Bathinda deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Charanjiv Lamba said an in-depth probe would be initiated to examine if there was any mala fide intention in not testing the donated blood before issuing it to a patient.
The father of thalassaemia patient said the authorities should have invoked stricter charges as the culprits deserve exemplary punishment.
“My son was 11 when he was administered the infected blood. He was already struggling with a disease and HIV infection has affected the quality of his life. The probe and trial should be put on a fast-track,” he said.