Taking strong exception to the alleged medical negligence at Sadar Hospital in West Singhbhum district, where five children contracted HIV after receiving infected blood transfusions, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren suspended the Civil Surgeon and other officials responsible for the lapse.
The Chief Minister also announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each for the affected families and assured free medical treatment for the infected children.
“Following reports of HIV-infected blood being transfused to thalassemia-affected children in Chaibasa, instructions have been issued to suspend the West Singhbhum Civil Surgeon and all officials concerned,” Soren said in a post on X.
The matter came to light when a seven-year-old thalassemia patient tested HIV-positive on October 18, weeks after receiving a transfusion in early September.
The child’s family subsequently lodged a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner and state health authorities. Acting swiftly, the Jharkhand High Court took suo motu cognisance of the incident and ordered a probe on Friday.
The following day, a five-member medical team from Ranchi visited Chaibasa and began an inquiry at Sadar Hospital. The team—comprising Director of Health Services Dr. Dinesh Kumar, Dr. Shipra Das, Dr. S.S. Paswan, Dr. Bhagat, and Civil Surgeon Dr. Sushanto Kumar Manjhi, along with Dr. Shivcharan Hansda and Dr. Meenu Kumari—inspected the hospital’s blood bank and PICU ward and interacted with the families of the affected children.
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During the investigation, officials discovered that four more children had also tested positive for HIV. Two of them remain under treatment in the hospital’s PICU.
“The source of infection is under investigation. The hospital administration has been instructed to conduct comprehensive blood tests of the affected children,” Dr. Dinesh Kumar said.
He added that the infection could have originated either from contaminated blood transfusion or external exposure, both of which are being probed. Dr. Kumar further informed that West Singhbhum currently has 515 HIV-positive patients and 56 thalassemia cases.
A detailed report on the incident will be submitted to the state health department soon.
Meanwhile, the inspection team found several irregularities and major shortcomings in the hospital’s blood bank and laboratory operations.
The administration has been given one week to rectify the deficiencies. Until then, the blood bank will remain open only for emergency use for the next few days.
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