AIIMS Counsel Claims Cancer Patient Got HIV Through Needle

The Delhi High Court has demanded an explanation from the medical superintendent (MS) of the AIIMS hospital as to how a boy suffering from cancer got inflicted with AIDS after undergoing blood transfusion in 2001. The court has also asked for an explanation on why the relevant documents were not being made available despite repeated requests.

Justice Vikramjit Sen ruled that the blood transfusion was the business of the public at large and the inability or unwillingness of the hospital to produce those papers would not be tolerated. The AIIMS counsel tried to confuse the issue by bringing in a lot of technicalities, but the judge said that AIIMS seemed to get defensive each time questions were asked about its practices.

"I agree that the hospital is of repute and has the best facilities. But it can go wrong somewhere," he said. He also wanted to know why the identity of the donor was being kept a secret. He was also not impressed by arguments saying the boy must have gotten infected through a needle. "Do you want to say that the nine-year-old boy was on drugs," the judge said.

The boy's advocate Anand Grover said he was diagnosed with cancer after the Pokhran tests. "Before going to AIIMS, the boy was admitted to a private hospital in Jaipur," he added. He also said that the private hospital had given all papers, while AIIMS was refusing to do so. He said they were seeking Rs 25 lakh from the hospital as compensation. "Those papers can prove that the blood transfusion infected the boy with HIV, since otherwise he has no medical history," Grover added.