Of the 1600 diagnosed AIDS patients in Madhya Pradesh, 136 have been found to be due to transfusion of contaminated blood. Health Minister Ajay Bishnoi announced this shocking report in the Assembly.
Following the announcement, an inquiry has been ordered to identify individuals/health organizations involved in the controversial blood transfusion issue. The minister further stated that an action plan would be implemented to avoid such instances in the future. Blood banks would be provided with HIV test kits and specialized equipments that would allow the blood to be tested for any potential infection, before transfusion.Madhya Pradesh deserves the credit of being categorised as one of the states of low AIDS prevalence. The rise in the number of AIDS cases has, however has added concern to the State health officials. So far, 1609 cases have been detected in the state with Indore leading the rank with 469 cases. It is being closely followed by Ujjain (287), Jablapur (112) and Dewas (71).
AIDS patients can seek treatment at anti-retroviral centre, located at Indore Medical College Hospital. Yet another centre would soon be set up at Jablapur.
