Jodhpur:
It is a shocking example of government apathy in Rajasthan. Children suffering from Thalassaemia in Jodhpur paid for the negligence of the authorities.
54 children, who underwent blood transfusion, over the years, at the Jodhpur government hospital, ended up contracting Hepatitis C and HIV.
Nobody in the govt is accepting the responsibility for this shocker that has taken place in the home district of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
At Jodhpur's Umaid Hospital, in the Thalassaemia ward is present, one of the 3 children who was recently infected with HIV.
A Thalassaemic since birth, the four- year- old's family survives on daily wages .They claim they have been coming to this govt hospital because the treatment here is free as they cannot afford to pay for the blood transfusion that the boy every month.
"Doctors here have ruined our lives by the blood they gave. And now we can't get him any treatment also," said father of the HIV infected child in Jodhpur.
With no history of any HIV infection in the family, the father claims, they get the blood transfusion done only from the government hospital and nowhere else.
However, the hospital is yet to explain how 8 children contracted HIV in the past 2 years.
The Thalassaemic society that regularly monitors the blood of 80 Thalassaemic children in Jodhpur, claims, blood reports from this hospital are often contradicted by the specialty centers outside. In the past years, 17 children from the same hospital contracted Hepatitis C.
Pradeep Dhadheech, Joint Secretary, Marwar Thalassaemic Society, Jodhpur said, "The hospital's system has some flaw somewhere. Sometimes they declare that a patient is positive for Hepatitis C but it turn negative when we check elsewhere. And sometimes it's the other way around."
But despite all the evidence, hospital authorities continue to remain in denial.
The onus though, lies equally on the government too. Even after six months since NAT, an HIV detecting test, was demanded, the Gehlot government is yet to steps to install the facility that greatly reduces the window period for detecting HIV& Hepatitis.
Dr. Rajshri Behera, Blood bank in charge , Umaid Hospital, Jodhpur " We are sure our blood is not infected. They could have been infected somewhere else also. They take lots of other injections and tests like the Hemoglobin test and others. They may have been infected anywhere."
This is how the hospital responded when quizzed about the fiasco.
Ironically, the hospital continues to use third generation kits for HIV tests when the prescribed usage is of 4th Generation kits that reduce the window period by a week.
While the government authorities are busy trying to pass the buck, the big question is, will anyone be hauled up for the double trauma that has now been inflicted on scores of Thalassaemic children and their families?