Parents of a two-year-old girl child suffering from a heart ailment Tuesday said she had contracted HIV after allegedly being given blood at the Medical College Hospital here.
However, the hospital Dean Ashokan denied the charge, saying she was only administered packed red blood cells to treat her underweight condition in July last year and that she might have been infected with the virus at some other hospital.
The claim by the parents comes months after a pregnant woman contracted HIV via blood transfusion at a government hospital in Sivakasi, triggering state-wide outrage.
Speaking to reporters here, Vishwanathan, the girl's father said the child was brought for a check-up at the hospital in July last year.
Later this month, the child was admitted to the hospital after she had developed some complications, and during check up it was found that she was infected with HIV.
The child was not taken to any other hospital, he said, adding in all possibility the child might have been infected at CMCH.
Rejecting the allegations, CMCH Dean Ashokan said there was no chance of such incident occurring at the hospital.
Immediately after receiving the complaint, he had gone through all the records and nothing of that sort happened at the hospital and the child might have been infected at some other hospital, he told media.
Noting that the blood stored in the government blood bank was subject to inspection, he said the child was underweight and was administered 50 ML of packed red blood cell, after proper examination in July last.
HIV is caused only through Plasma and not packed blood cell, Ashokan claimed.
Doctors in the hospital carried out examination after they grew suspicious and found the child as HIV positive on February 6, he said.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)