Woman and child who contracted HIV during blood transfusion at government hospital to be paid ₹40 lakh ex-gratia amount, State govt. tells HC

The Tamil Nadu government has informed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court that a total of ₹40 lakh ex-gratia amount will be paid to a woman and her child, who contracted HIV, after the woman was transfused with HIV-infected blood at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchi in 2022.

Taking note of the submission, Justice C. Saravanan directed that ₹20 lakh each should be paid to the woman and her child. The amount to the woman should be paid without any further stipulation. Besides, ₹20 lakh should be invested in a fixed deposit of a nationalised bank or in a post office, which should be renewed till the child attains the age of majority.

On attaining the age of majority, the child will be entitled to receive the amount together with the interest. In case, any amount was required for the welfare of the child or in case of an emergency, it was open for the woman to approach the court for appropriate orders, the court said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the woman who sought a compensation of ₹20 lakh each to her and her male child on account of the negligence of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in transfusing infected blood to the woman on October 22, 2022, when she was admitted for delivery.

Due to certain complications, the petitioner required a blood transfusion. The Blood Bank of the government hospital supplied the blood to the hospital where the petitioner had been admitted for delivery.

The counter affidavits filed by Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital and Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS) confirmed the blood transfused to the petitioner was infected and as a consequence of the transfusion of the infected blood, both the petitioner and her infant child contracted HIV.

The hospital authorities submitted that the protocols stipulated by the National Blood Transfusion Council and TANSACS were duly followed in respect of screening blood and blood products at the time of donation. The blood was collected from the donor after screening and was found to be negative at the time of donation, since it was the window period.

The blood was transfused to the petitioner. Neither the donor nor the hospital knew about the donor’s HIV infection. “We are not having the scientific methods/system to identify window period infections in blood products. Hence, we are facing risk of infection in blood transfusion”, the hospital authorities said.

TANSACS said the sequence of events strongly suggested that the donor was likely in the window period at the time of donation, when the HIV virus was present but not yet detectable by standard screening tests. Thus, the authorities could not be held responsible for the contraction of HIV.

With the directions, the court disposed of the petition.