The Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) last week issued show cause notice to the Junagarh civil hospital after finding some procedural anomalies in the part of the hospital during an initial investigation. This investigation was carried out independently by the state drug authorities on the report of 20 kids contracting with HIV during transfusions from the hospital.

Following the enquiry, Junagarh civil hospital has been asked to stop their blood bank related activities until further notice is  issued by the authorities. According to Dr Hemant G Koshia, commissioner, Gujarat FDCA, they had send a team to verify the news that was going around on the issue of children contracting HIV during blood transfusion from the said hospital.

“During our initial investigations we discovered that though the hospital has been following the rules and regulations under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act (D&C Act), there have been instances where we found certain discrepancies in the way blood was collected and procured. Pertaining to this we have already issued a show cause notice to them asking for their explanation on this,” informed Dr Koshia.

As of now the Drug authorities are waiting for the hospital to respond to the show cause notice, based on which they will be initiating further steps.

He further clarified that this investigation was separately conducted by the state drug authority and is different from the investigation that was carried by the enquiry committee, set up by the Central government. Dr Koshia informed that though the enquiry committee has already completed their investigation which was carried on for three days from October 12 to 14, state government is yet to receive the report.

Dr Koshia stressed that the hospital will have to reply to the show cause notice within two weeks from the time the notice was issued to them, failing to which legal action will be taken against them. He said, “If we find that the hospital has been responsible for conducting activities that has put the life of patients at risk we would withdraw their licence that would lead to permanent closure of the blood bank.” Today there are 150 licensed blood banks, belonging to the state government and red cross in Gujarat.

Recently, the Gujarat state government had been under media glare, as 20 kid's suffering from thalassemia were allegedly  reported to have contracted with HIV infection after undergoing blood transfusion from Junagarh civil hospital.