COURTESY HT DEC 29
Plea filed in HC seeking damages to minor thalaessemic patients
Vishal Joshi
vishal.joshi@htlive.com
BATHINDA : Moved by the lack of provision under its ambit to grant compensation to minor thalassaemia patients who were infused HIV infected blood at Bathinda civil hospital, the Punjab State Legal Service Authority (PSLSA) has filed public interest litigation (PIL) for justice to the victims of the alleged inefficacy by the medical professionals and administration of the local institute.
Probably, it is for the first time in the country that the SLSA, mandated to release damages to the survivors of sexual abuse, acid attack etc and providing legal aid, approached a court to benefit victims.
Besides a plea to formulate a policy for grant of compensation in cases of gross medical negligence, the SLSA has also urged the court to monitor the police investigation in the cases related to infusion of infected blood to children.
Following a PIL filed by the member secretary of PSLSA Arun Gupta, the two-judge bench of Punjab and Haryana high court comprising of justices Daya Chaudhary and Meenakshi Mehta issued notices of motion to the state of Punjab and others on December 22. The case will be heard on January 25.
The SLSA is a statutory authority to give free legal services to people and conduct lok adalats in the state. The chief justice of a high court is the ex-officio patron in chief of SLSA. According to the PIL, the authority learnt about incidents of children battling thalassaemia found infected with HIV through the media reports, including HT.
A good Samaritan approached the SLSA officials with newspaper clippings detailing the alleged negligence of the staff at the blood bank at Bhai Shaheed Bhai Mani Civil Hospital in Bathinda. In a series of reports, HT had highlighted that since October this year, five persons, including four thalassaemia patients age between 7 and13, being treated at the local civil hospital were found HIV +.
Additional member secretary of SLSA Dr Mandeep Mittal, an additional district and sessions judge, was asked to inquire the cases.
After meeting the families of these children in Bathinda district, Mittal found that the infected minors were not entitled to any compensation under the prevalent provisions of SLSA. It stated that the quality of life of thalassemia patients will be compromised due to wrongful blood infusion at state-run facility thus they are eligible for compensation.
“Since parents of most of these infected children lack resources and awareness for seeking damages, SLSA executive chairperson justice S Muralidhar gave a nod to file a PIL in the interest of these patients. Our findings say that suspected unprofessional conduct by staffers of the blood bank, that is already under police investigation, should be monitored by the high court,” said Mittal.
The PIL also pleaded the Punjab government be directed to get all donors and recipients of blood from the blood bank at the local hospital in the last one year, examined for an HIV infection status. If any patient other than thalaessemia, who was treated here, should also be compensated by the state.