The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the state to pay each of them ₹ 20 lakh. The child’s compensation will be kept in a fixed deposit until he turns 18, according to reports by The New Indian Express and The Times of India. The woman had approached the court for compensation after she and her newborn son contracted HIV following a blood transfusion during her hospital stay for delivery.
The woman was admitted to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchy for delivery in October 2022. When she needed a blood transfusion, the blood was provided by the hospital’s blood bank. The blood was later found to have come from a donor who had HIV. The hospital stated in court that the donor had gone through the screening test and the result was negative, as the infection was in its window period, which is an early stage of an infection where a test may not identify the infection.
The hospital and the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS) said that they were not aware that the donor had HIV at the time of transfusion, and that they had maintained the necessary steps required for blood screening.
The hospital said that the donor’s test had come out as negative because the infection was in its initial stage at that time, which is also called the window period. During that stage, a test may not be able to detect infection even if the person is infected with HIV. The accuracy of the result depends on the type of test taken and how recently the infection occurred.
Explaining the difficulty of identifying such cases, the hospital told the court:
“We do not have the scientific methods/system to identify window period infections in blood products; hence, we are facing risk of infection in blood transfusion.”
The hospital maintained that it had followed the prescribed screening procedures.
The state agreed to pay ₹20 lakh each to the woman and her son. Justice C Saravanan recorded the government’s undertaking before disposing of the petition.
According to The New Indian Express, the court directed the government to pay ₹20 lakh within two weeks and place the child’s ₹20 lakh in an interest-bearing fixed deposit.
The court directed that the child’s ₹20 lakh be placed in an interest-bearing fixed deposit with a nationalized bank or post office and renewed until he turns 18. If the money is needed earlier for his welfare or in an emergency, his mother can approach the court for permission to withdraw it. The woman had previously received ₹2.5 lakh in interim compensation on August 28, 2026.
Blood banks screen donated blood for infections such as HIV before transfusion. However, infections may go undetected during the window period, when a person is infected but the test does not yet detect the infection.
In this case, the hospital maintained that it had followed the prescribed screening procedures and that the donor's test result was negative because the infection was in its window period.
India's National Standards for Blood Centres and Blood Transfusion Services state that nucleic acid testing (NAT) can shorten the window period by detecting viral genetic material. The guidelines recommend NAT as an additional screening method to improve the detection of transfusion-transmissible infections, alongside serological testing.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recorded the Tamil Nadu government's undertaking to pay ₹20 lakh each to the mother and her son.
References:
1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. National Standards for Blood Centres and Blood Transfusion Services. 2nd ed. New Delhi: Directorate General of Health Services, 2022. https://clinicalestablishments.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/2023-03/1491_0.pdf.
(Rh/AM)
