Jharkhand: Four more kids suffering from thalassemia test HIV-positive in Chaibasa; probe underway

Jharkhand government has formed a medical team to find out how the child received contaminated blood.

Four more children suffering from thalassemia were detected HIV-positive in Jharkhand's Chaibasa town on Saturday during an investigation by a five-member medical team from Ranchi, taking the total number of affected minors to five.

The development comes a day after the family of a seven-year-old thalassemia patient alleged that the local blood bank in Chaibasa had transfused HIV-infected blood.

Soon after, the state government formed a medical team to find out how the child received contaminated blood.

Around 25 units of blood has been transfused since the child started visiting the blood bank, officials said. District Civil Surgeon Dr Sushanto Majhee, however, said the child had tested HIV-positive over a week ago.

He added that HIV infection could also occur due to other factors, including exposure to contaminated needles.

The five-member team led by Director (Health services), Jharkhand, Dr. Dinesh Kumar, inspected the blood bank in Sadar Hospital and the pediatric intensive care unit ward and gathered details from under-treatment children.

The director said some discrepancies were detected in the blood bank during the investigation and directed the officials to resolve it.

"Initial investigation indicates that contaminated blood was transfused to a thalassemia patient. Some discrepancies were detected in the blood bank during the probe, and the officials concerned have been directed to resolve them," Kumar said.

Currently, West Singhbhum district has 515 HIV-positive cases and 56 thalassemia patients. The probe team, headed by Kumar, includes Dr Shipra Das, Dr S S Paswan, Dr Bhagat, District Civil Surgeon Dr Sushanto Majhee, Dr Shivcharan Hansda, and Dr Minu Kumari.