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Court directs govt. to fund HIV patient’s treatment

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed the Union Government to bear the entire cost of treatment of an HIV-positive minor patient at Ranchi in Jharkhand, holding it responsible for administering HIV-infected blood to him.

The direction by Justice Rekha Sharma came on a petition by the father of the patient, Faizan Ahmed, who had sought damages and free treatment for his son’s ailment alleging that he had been infected by the dreaded virus due to transfusion of contaminated blood at Safdarjung Hospital here in 2007.

Earlier, the Court had directed the Centre to ensure treatment of the petitioner as he was suffering from the disease due to negligence on the part of the hospital authorities. The Court had ordered free treatment when counsel for the Government owned up negligence of the hospital and promised to bear the costs of the treatment.

Following the Court’s direction, the patient had returned to his native place for the medical treatment. But the Government failed to take follow-up action leaving the petitioner in the lurch.

After a long wait, the petitioner once again moved the High Court accusing the Government of not complying with the order. The Court issued a notice to the Government asking for its reply for the dereliction of duty.

The Government in an affidavit assured the Court that it stood by its promise to bear the costs of treatment of the patient. The Government also apologised to the Court for being complacent in implementing the order.

The petitioner had brought his nine-year-old son to the Capital for treatment of his stunted growth at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. The doctors at AIIMS had diagnosed him as critically anaemic and referred him to Safdarjung Hospital for transfusion of blood. He was administered blood there.

A few days after the transfusion, his condition started worsening instead of improving. The doctors had later diagnosed him of being infected by HIV following transfusion of the blood.

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