Ahmedabad: Amid the reports of 15 people in Vadodara including 7 women becoming infected to HIV, Hepatitis B and C owing to transfusion of contaminated blood supplied by some private blood banks, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) today admitted that during a recent routine check at least four such blood banks including 3 in Vadodara were found to have such infected blood pouches.

A senior official of the CDSCO said that during the routine check around two months back (last week of October), 3 private blood banks in Vadodara and one in North Gujarat (in Sabarkantha district) were found to have blood pouches which were infected with HIV, Hepatitis B and C. ‘One of them by name Suraktam in Vadodara has been issued order for cancellation of license while for others it was in process,’ he said.
He, however, denied to have any knowledge of any infection to anyone owing to this. ‘It was a routine check and not done on the basis of any complain etc. We forwarded the findings to higher authorities for necessary action,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Chief District Health Officer of Vadodara M T Chhari said that he was not aware of any such development. ‘My office is not aware of it. We have not issued any notice to any of the blood banks,’ he said.

On the other hand Deputy Drugs Controller of the state CDSCO office Arvind Kukrety confirmed the incident but refused to speak any further at this juncture.

The recent case has refreshed the dreaded memory of disputed Junagadh blood transfusion case of 2011 when over two dozen Thalassemic children were allegedly transfused HIV infected blood. The matter is still under CBI investigation, which was ordered by the Gujarat High Court.

It is being alleged that owing to the supply of infected blood in Vadodara from two of the blood banks, at least 3 got infected with HIV while seven with Hepatitis C and five with Hepatitis B. It has however not been independently confirmed.

DeshGujarat