'Baseless': UP Hospital Rejects Reports of Transfusion of Infected Blood To Kids

Kanpur's Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital had been accused of transfusing infected blood to 14 children.

Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur rejected reports claiming that 14 children suffering from Thalassemia had tested positive for HIV and Hepatitis B, after transfuion of infected blood.

The college in a statement called the claims "baseless, unauthorised, and erroneous".

"Whoever comes to Kanpur for thalassemia, his first screening is done at GSVM College. Since 2019, no HIV, HBsAg or Hepatitis B thalassemia-infected patient has been found," GSVM College said in a press release.

Thalassemia is a blood disorder that children inherit from their parents. Due to this disease, the process of making hemoglobin in the body gets disrupted. It also creates severe blood deficiency, due to which the patient repeatedly needs blood.

'One Case Each of HIV Found in 2014 and 2019'

The college further said that one HIV-positive patient was found in the screening for 2014 and another for 2019, who had undergone blood transfusion elsewhere.

"Apart from this, two patients of Hepatitis B were found positive in the screening in the year 2016," the college said.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Kala, Principal of GSVM College, said:

"We completely refute the news. So far, no thalassemia patient has been infected through transfusion in the medical college. For the convenience of the patients in GSVM College, Kanpur, along with ELISA, NAT testing is also done, which is the highest-quality test in the world and is as per international standards."

Sanjay Kala

Kala further said that he had spoken to Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, adding that he will write a letter demanding disciplinary action against Arun Kumar Arya, head of the Pediatrics Department at Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital (LLRH), who had made the claims.

What did Arya say? Reflecting on the matter, Arya had said, "This is a cause of concern for the government hospital because of the flaws in the process of blood donation and blood transfusion to patients."

"At the time of blood transfusion, there is a risk of related infections like hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV and malaria. According to the data we have for the last eight to ten years, two of them have Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C has been confirmed in eight and HIV in two. It is not that these children have been suffering in the last month, but these figures are from the last 10 years," Arya had said.

"We do routine screening every three to six months so that we know about the infection," he further said, adding that at the time of transfusion, doctors should have also administered Hepatitis B vaccine to the children.