Ranchi, February 4: The Jharkhand High Court has taken a firm stance regarding the case of HIV-infected blood transfusions administered to thalassemia-affected children at the Chaibasa Sadar Hospital. The court has ordered the immediate registration of a First Information Report (FIR).
The court deemed the incident a serious case of negligence and systemic failure, directing the police to file the FIR without delay. Justice Gautam Kumar Choudhary, presiding over the single bench, instructed the petitioner, Deepak Hembram, to apply for the FIR at the police station and mandated the station in-charge to take ‘immediate’ action on it.
Additionally, the court ordered that a copy of the registered FIR be made available to the petitioners and submitted to the court along with a counter affidavit. The petition called for an FIR to be filed regarding alleged medical negligence and serious irregularities at the blood bank of Chaibasa Sadar Hospital, as well as the establishment of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the court’s supervision.
According to the petition, five minors suffering from thalassemia were transfused with blood in 2025, after which they contracted HIV. The affected children, aged between five and seven, come from economically disadvantaged families. Since the incident, both the children and their families have been facing severe health, social, and economic crises.
The state government announced a compensation of two lakh rupees for each child, but the petition described this amount as insufficient, arguing that lifelong treatment for a serious illness like HIV would incur significantly higher costs.