BATHINDA: Seventeen months after transfusion of HIV-positive blood to a patient, the police on Wednesday registered a case against two medical laboratory technologists (MLT) posted at the Bathinda civil hospital.
The case was registered against MLTs Gurpreet Singh and Gurbhej Singh under sections 269 (whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and 270 (whoever malignantly does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) registered at the Kotwali police station.
The case was filed on the complaint of Akashdeep Singh, joint director (crime) in the Punjab state vigilance bureau.
The blood was administered in Bathinda civil hospital on November 7, 2020.
The technicians negligently administered the HIV-positive blood to a patient of Bhagu village in Bathinda when he was admitted to the hospital.
Earlier the services of four medical laboratory technologists on contract, posted at Bathinda civil hospital, were terminated on November 23, 2020, on the recommendations of the then Punjab health minister Balbir Singh following accusations of administering HIV-positivee blood to three kids and a woman.
The HIV-positive blood was given to three children and a woman in October-November 2020.
Two of the children were thalassemia patients who needed transfusion after a fortnight.
In the occurrence of transfusing HIV-positive blood to a 7-year-old girl and a woman, a case of attempt to murder was registered against laboratory technician Baldev Singh Romana and he was arrested on October 16, 2020.
Sources have claimed that after that ,two more cases involving children had come to the fore.
