The 19-year-old’s blood was earlier transfused to a pregnant woman from Virudhunagar district

The 19-year-old blood donor, whose infected blood was transfused to a pregnant woman from Virudhunagar district, died at Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) here on Sunday morning.

He was admitted at the hospital on Wednesday after he tried to end his life by consuming poison at his native Tiruchiluvaipuram village near Kamuthi in Ramanathapuram district.

S. Shanmugasundaram, dean (in charge), GRH, said that the cause of death was blood loss, a common complication of consuming rat poison. “He vomitted blood early on Sunday, following which we administered one unit of blood and three units of fresh frozen plasma. Despite our best efforts, we could not save him,” he said.

The youth, who was staying at his relative's place in Sivakasi and working in a cracker unit there, donated blood at the government hospital in Sivakasi on November 30, 2018 as a replacement donor.

The staff at the blood bank in the hospital failed to identify his HIV and Hepatitis B infection in the blood. The donor, meanwhile, had to test his blood at a private lab for a job opportunity abroad, and came to know about his condition. He then informed Sivakasi hospital on December 10, 2018.

The incident came to light when a pregnant woman at the Sattur Government Hospital who was administered the blood donated by him, claimed she had tested positive for HIV. Later she also tested positive for Hepatitis B.

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The youth had already donated blood at the government hospital in Sivakasi in 2016 and was found to be HIV positive. But he was neither informed nor was any follow-up done.

The Health and Family Welfare Department has so far terminated the services of three employees at Sivakasi hospital for negligence of duty. A five-member committee is conducting a detailed enquiry on the incident.

The pregnant woman, who received the infected blood, is under Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) at GRH.

Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.