Blood transfusions infected 1,342 with HIV in 2018-19, says Naco

MUMBAI: The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), in an RTI, has said that around 1,342 people across India have contracted the HIV infection due to blood transfusion in 2018-19, giving rise to serious safety and quality concerns. Maharashtra accounted for 13% of these cases with 169 infections. It also fared among the top five states to report the transfusion-transmitted infection.

As per this data, close to a 1000 people in Maharashtra have contracted HIV through the blood transfusion route over the last five years. Countrywide, over 7218 have contracted through blood and its products since 2014-2015, the NACO data has revealed. In 2018-19, Uttar Pradesh topped the chart with 241 cases, followed by West Bengal (176) and Delhi (172). And even though a year-on-year analysis showed that there is a decline in such infections, activists say the cases point towards shortcomings in donor screening and efficacy of tests.

This data, which is collected from the Integrated Testing and Counselling Centres in HIV clinics, however, has become contentious over the years, with NACO itself questioning its veracity. "These numbers are self-reported by people at the time of counselling that is done before and after HIV testing," said Dr Shobhini Rajan, incharge of blood safety, NACO.

She said HIV due to blood transfusion remains "low and negligible" in India. But she admitted that there is no other data set to suggest otherwise. Out of the 85,000-1lakh new HIV cases detected in India annually, Maharashtra accounts for around 21,000 cases. Officials from the Maharashtra State Aids Control Society say that heterosexual route is still the commonest mode of transmission, while blood transfusion is at the bottom and accounts for less than 1% of cases. "It will require a case by case probe to see whether they really got the infection through blood," said Tukaram Mundhe, project director, MSACS.

While officials may want to write off the concern of infectious blood completely, a look into blood donation figures paints a different picture . RTI activist Chetan Kothari, who obtained the NACO data, pointed out that the figures reiterate concerns that blood collection and testing systems are still not foolproof.

A blood transfusion officer said, "Often crucial steps like taking proper medical history of the donor by a doctor and or testing collected blood units on time so that the results don't get altered, are not followed in camps." Also several public hospitals which handle thousands of blood units don't have the mandatory manpower, which could compromise quality.

Full report on www.toi.in