tamil-nadu

Updated: Jul 29, 2019 13:15 IST

A 24-year-old pregnant woman given HIV-infected blood at a government hospital in Tamil Nadu should be paid Rs 25 lakh in compensation, the high court ordered on Friday.

The High Court further directed the state government to build a 450 sq ft two-bedroom house for the victim.

Soon after the controversy broke, Madurai-based activists Appa Samy and Muthu Kumar filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), seeking justice for the pregnant woman.

“The state government should deposit Rs 10 lakh in the account of the woman and Rs 15 lakh in the name of the newborn and its elder sibling,” said the order. This is besides the house that should be built for the family of the victim,” read the order.

The woman, hailing from Sattur, had gone to Sivakasi for treatment. There she was injected with with HIV-infected blood on December 3, 2018.

The matter came to light when a 19-year-old blood donor learned about having contracted HIV and informed the hospital authorities of the same. However, by then the infected blood has already been injected into the pregnant woman in November. Upset, the youth consumed poison on December 25 and died five days later.

Following an uproar in the public domain, the State Health Department decided to treat the pregnant woman at the Madurai Rajaji Government Hospital.

The victim delivered a baby girl on January 17 and to the relief of the parents, the infant tested HIV negative.