Delhi based Indraprastha Apollo Hospital has moved the Supreme Court, challenging the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) order directing it to pay Rs 18 lakh for allegedly infecting a girl with the deadly Hepatitis-C virus through contaminated blood it used in transfusion.

The hospital has claimed that the judgment of the NCDRC has been challenged in an appeal filed in the Supreme Court, adding, “The hospital has specifically challenged the findings of the commission as to the veracity of the record of the blood.”

“The hospital has, inter alia, pointed out that even in 1997, when there was no stipulation by the government making Hepatitis-C screening of blood and blood products mandatory, Indraprastha Apollo was the only hospital in the country performing Hepatitis-C virus screening for all transfusions,” the hospital said in its appeal.

It can be recalled the NCDRC, in a recent order, had asked the hospital to pay Rs 18 lakh to Shafali Bhargava and said, “The way the hospital blood transfusion records are maintained does not inspire confidence in them. A young life has been seriously affected by this negligence.”

Asserting in the appeal that its records were kept in complete details and the findings of the commission to the contrary was “incorrect”, the statement said, “The matter being sub judice, it would be improper for the hospital to comment upon the order of the commission.”

“However, the hospital has always adhered to the highest standards of care and documentation in keeping with the guidelines prescribed by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and ISO 9001:2000,” the hospital said in its appeal.