Tamil Nadu: Youth whose HIV positive blood was transfused to pregnant woman consumes poison, dies

A 19-year-old youth, who had consumed rat poison on learning that a pregnant woman who had received his HIV positive blood had contracted the virus, died in Madurai on Sunday.

Photo: Representational. AFP

MUDURAI: A 19-year-old youth, who had consumed rat poison on learning that a pregnant woman who had received his HIV positive blood had contracted the virus, died here on Sunday, hospital authorities said. He had been undergoing treatment at Government Rajaji Hospital here for three days and died of Gastro Intestinal (GI) bleeding, they said. Actually he was stable. But the poison he consumed has a propensity to cause bleeding anytime. There was GI (stomach) bleeding early today and he vomited blood, S Shanmugasundaram, dean of Madurai Medical College and Government Rajaji Hospital told reporters. After he vomited, though the patient was treated as per protocol, which includes transfusion of four units of blood, he succumbed to the poison, the dean said. A worker at a firecracker unit in nearby Sivakasi and a native of Ramanathapuram district's Kamuthi village, the youth had consumed the poison on Wednesday. He was admitted to Government Rajaji Hospital on Thursday after preliminary treatment in hospitals at Ramnad and Kamuthi. The youth, not knowing that he was HIV positive, had donated blood on November 30. He found out only after he underwent a medical check-up days later as a requirement for a foreign job, local authorities had said. Though he informed the blood bank at Sivakasi to not use his blood, it had already been transfused to a Sattur-based pregnant woman by the first week of December, they had said. Reacting to the incident, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M K Stalin sought immediate dismissal of Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and transfer of Health Secretary J Radhakrishanan. Attacking the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party, he said it was a disgrace that HIV infected blood had been transfused at a government hospital. "Though the transfusion of HIV infected blood at a government hospital has shocked everyone, the AIADMK government is playing with human lives through its indifferent attitude," the leader of opposition in the state assembly said. Stalin said the donor's death and another woman claiming that she contracted HIV following transfusion of blood at a government hospital in Chennai showed that there was a "complete breakdown of administration". Authorities of the Chennai hospital, however, have refuted the allegations. Stalin said the incidents raised doubts about safety practices in government blood banks and sought immediate measures to ensure that blood from donors was properly screened as per protocol in state-run facilities. BJP State unit president Tamilisai Soundararjan said government hospitals were the refuge of the common people and highly skilled doctors worked there. "The criticism of political parties should not shake the confidence of the people in government hospitals," she said. However, she added that there was no second thought that government facilities should follow protocol and ensure patients' safety.