Two hospitals in dock after ‘HIV+’ Jind woman tests negative in second report
THE WOMAN WAS REFERRED TO THE PGIMS FOR DELIVERY BUT THE HOSPITAL RAN OUT OF HIV TEST KITS; SHE WAS AGAIN TESTED AT THE CIVIL HOSPITAL AND THE REPORT CAME OUT NEGATIVE
ROHTAK: Two days after authorities launched a probe on two Haryana hospitals following a complaint of negligence by relatives of an ‘HIV+ woman’, her tests on Friday confirmed that she was, in fact, not HIV positive.
The pregnant woman from Jind had gone to the civil hospital in the district three nights ago when she experienced labour pains. A spot HIV test was conducted on her, during which it came reactive. She was then referred to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) Rohtak where she had a normal delivery.
While the woman and her family were still in shock after finding out she was HIV+, they feared that the deadly virus will be transmitted to her newborn as well. The family was hit with a double whammy when they were told that the newborn could not be administered with nevirapine syrup (that reduces the risk of transmission of HIV virus from mother to her newborn) as the PGIMS had run out of it.
“One can’t imagine the panic we went through. My sister’s husband also wanted to get tested for HIV after knowing she was positive. But the PGIMS ran out of testing kit,” a relative of the woman said.
Fortunately for the family, two confirmatory ELISA tests for HIV on Friday revealed that neither the woman nor her husband have the virus. This brought relief to them as now their newborn is also not at risk of transmission. Nonetheless, child welfare committee (CWC) chairperson Raj Singh Sangwan said he has sought reports from the PGIMS about non-availability of medicines and from Jind civil hospital about why the woman was referred to Rohtak after knowing her positive HIV status.
However, Jind civil surgeon Dr Sanjay Dahiya said testing positive for HIV could not solely be the reason for referring a patient. “We have in the past conducted deliveries of several HIV positive women. There were other complications with delivery which made us refer her to the PGIMS as it is the apex hospital with very experienced gynaecologists,” he said.
Rohtak PGIMS director Dr Nitya Nand said that he has issued a notice to all departments and doctors that they can procure medicines up to ₹20,000 without anyone’s permission if there is an emergency. “In this case, there was no emergency as such. The syrup needs to be administered within 72 hours of birth and not immediately,” he said.