Woman claims Ramaiah Hospital made her HIV positive

 

Life as she knew it changed when Gowri (name changed) underwent a blood transfusion two years ago at a top hospital in Bengaluru.

 

After 15 years of marriage, Gowri was unable to conceive and wanted to remedy the condition. The 40-year-old woman approached MS Ramaiah Hospital for an operation to remove uterine fibroids. 

 

Claiming that the patient's platelet count was low, the doctors recommended a blood transfusion. Gowri underwent a blood transfusion on Feb 13, 2014. 

 

According to the family, a week prior to the transfusion Gowri's blood test showed HIV negative but however, post the transfusion her blood tested positive for HIV. 

 

Since she has been tested positive for HIV, Gowri and her family have been battling against the hospital administration for the gross negligence but all attempts failed.

 

Gowri has approached Karnataka Medical Council's intervention in this matter. A petition was moved by Chairman of the Expert Committee on Preventing Sexual Violence against Women and Children VS Ugrappa. 

 

However, Dr Suresh from KC General Hospital has a different view to the issue. He said, "There is very less chance for hospital acquired infection. The virus is by and large transmitted by sexual contact."

 

According to the Bangalore Mirror news report, a complaint has been registered at Sadashivnagar police station against the hospital including the gynecologist and two employees of the Integrated Counselling and Testing Center for the cognisable offence of "forgery with medical records and medical negligence".

 

According to an annual report published by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), In India, blood transfusion accounted for 2,234 HIV cases over a period of 17 months until May 2016. The total number of people living with HIV/AIDS in India was found to be nearly 20.9 lakh in 2011. About 86 percent of the HIV/AIDS patients in India were found to be in the age group of 15 to 49 years.