Superintendent Orders Probe After Conflicting HIV Test Reports Surface
Key Points:
- Woman’s cesarean done without safety kit after initial test showed HIV negative
- Repeat test later confirms HIV positive, four other operations held in same OT
- SNMMCH superintendent orders inquiry, samples of family members also collected
DHANBAD – A case of serious negligence has come to light in the gynaecology and obstetrics department of SNMMCH, Dhanbad’s largest government hospital. According to the allegation, a woman underwent a cesarean operation without a special safety kit after her initial HIV test report came back negative. Four other women were also operated upon later in the same operation theatre. However, panic spread among hospital management, doctors and staff after a repeat test showed the woman’s HIV report as positive. Given the seriousness of the matter, the SNMMCH superintendent has ordered an inquiry and said departmental action would be taken against those found responsible.
According to information available, the woman, a resident of the Bank More area, was first admitted to Sadar Hospital after she went into labour. Various tests, including an HIV test, were conducted there in view of a possible cesarean delivery, and the test showed the woman was HIV positive.
It is learnt that she was referred to SNMMCH for the cesarean delivery because the necessary safety kit was not available at Sadar Hospital.
After reaching SNMMCH, she was admitted to the gynaecology department. Before the operation, an HIV test was conducted again at the clinical pathology lab, and this report came back negative. Based on this report, doctors carried out the cesarean operation on the woman without a special safety kit.
It is further learnt that four other women subsequently underwent operations in the same operation theatre.
The matter turned serious when the woman’s HIV test was conducted once again later. This time, the test was carried out using a kit available at the ICTC centre, and the report showed the woman as HIV positive. Panic spread among the hospital’s doctors and staff as soon as this report came in.
Following this, samples of the woman’s husband, in-laws and parents have also been taken for testing as a precaution. Reports for all of them are awaited.
It is stated that the ICTC centre at SNMMCH uses kits supplied by the National AIDS Control Organisation, or NACO, for HIV testing. Meanwhile, the clinical pathology lab conducts tests using other kits. The inquiry will also examine why the initial test report came back negative and at what stage the lapse occurred.
SNMMCH superintendent Dr Dinesh Kumar Gindouria said information regarding the operation on the HIV-positive woman had been received. He said the gynaecology department in-charge has been asked to investigate the matter. According to him, it has also come to light that the woman’s husband did not disclose that he was HIV positive. He said an inquiry was underway into the circumstances under which the cesarean operation was carried out, and that departmental action would be taken against anyone found guilty in the probe.
The inquiry into the matter has now begun. Dhanbad’s SNMMCH is among the major referral hospitals in the region, drawing patients from across the district for specialised treatment, including cesarean deliveries referred from Sadar Hospital.
