Injured cop given HIV+ blood

A police constable in Rajahmundry contracted the deadly HIV after he was given “infected” blood following a road mishap.

The owner of a blood bank has been booked and arrested in the case after a probe revealed that the blood had been donated by a HIV-positive donor.

The constable, posted at the III Town police station in Rajahmundry, was involved in a motorcycle mishap on the night of April 25.

He had suffered an injury to his head and was bleeding profusely. As he slipped into a coma, he was taken to the government general hospital at Rajahmundry. Later he was shifted to Abhaya Emergency Hospital for better treatment. Doctors at the hospital had asked for two units of blood from a licensed blood bank — Jagruti Blood Bank.

It is learnt that the injured constable was given some of the blood. Here the constable had tested negative for HIV.

However, when the doctors informed his family members that his surgery would cost nearly Rs 2 lakh, they decided to take him to another hospital — Swatantra Hospital.

He was then given the remaining of the blood. This time when the doctors tested his blood samples, it came back as HIV positive.

Enraged at the development, the family members of the constable ransacked the Jagruti Blood Bank on Monday.

The blood bank’s owner and pathologist, Dr G. Nageswara Rao, was booked under Sections 269 and 336 of the IPC for criminal negligence and also under the provisions of the AP Transplantation of Human Organs Act.

The Rajahmundry revenue divisional officer,
Ch. Vinay Mohan, seized the blood bank and its records.

During a probe on Tuesday, it was found that the donor of the blood was a HIV positive patient.