Uttar Pradesh: Family Alleges Girl Tested HIV Positive After Etah Govt Doctor Used Same Syringe, Probe Ordered

The family of a girl has complained that she tested HIV positive after a government doctor in Uttar Pradesh's Etah used a syringe in multiple patients. 

UP Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak has taken cognisance of the incident and said on Saturday that an explanation has been sought from the concerned government hospital. Pathak holds the health portfolio in the Yogi Adityanath-led Government of Uttar Pradesh. 

The incident came to light on Saturday when parents of a girl admitted to Rani Avanti Bai Lodhi Government Medical College in Etah complained to District Magistrate Ankit Kumar Agarwal that several children were given injections from the same syringe. Pathak said that an explanation has been sought from the principal of the college and that strict action will be taken against those found guilty in the matter.

Pathak tweeted in Hindi, "Taking cognisance of the case of a doctor at Medical Hospital Etah using single syringe in many patients and a child testing HIV positive, I have sought an explanation in the case from Government Medical College, Etah. Strict action will be taken if any doctor is found guilty."

Relatives of the girl, admitted to the hospital on February 20, further claimed that when the child was found to be HIV-positive, health workers forced her out of the hospital in the night.

DM Agarwal ordered an inquiry into the alleged incident and said that after getting the complaint, an investigation was instituted and handed over to Etah Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Umesh Kumar Tripathi, who said he has come to know about the alleged incident and the district magistrate has ordered an inquiry into it and that the report will be sent to the district magistrate after the probe gets over.

HIV is a lifelong condition that currently has no cure. It's caused by the human immunodeficiency virus. 

While there is no cure yet for HIV, there are treatments that contain the HIV spread in body and stop the progression of the disease, allowing a near-normal life to infected persons. However, if left untreated, HIV can progresses to the third and most serious stage called AIDS.

"Untreated, life expectancy with end stage AIDS is about three years. With antiretroviral therapy, HIV can be well-managed, and life expectancy can be nearly the same as someone who has not contracted HIV," notes Healthline, adding that untreated HIV can develop into AIDS in 10 years.

HIV spreads through bodily fluids of blood, semen, vaginal and rectal fluids, and breast milk, according to Healthline. Syringes either during shared drug usage or in a medical setting are a common medium of HIV transmission. 

HIV and AIDS weaken the person's immune system to the extent that the body is vulnerable to other opportunistic infections and diseases and the body cannot fight them. Healthline notes, "The shortened life expectancy linked with untreated AIDS isn’t a direct result of the syndrome itself. Rather, it’s a result of the diseases and complications that arise from having an immune system weakened by AIDS."

(With PTI inputs)