Panel formed to probe HIV infection case in Madhya Pradesh

The Madhya Pradesh government has formed a committee to investigate the case of six children getting infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), allegedly due to contaminated blood transfusions at the Satna district hospital and other facilities in the State.

As per an order issued by Tarun Rathi, Commissioner, Public Health and Medical Education Department, on Tuesday, the six-member panel has been asked to submit a detailed report within seven days. The committee will be headed by Dr. Satya Awadhiya, Regional Director of the department’s Rewa Division.

The six children, aged between three and 15 years and suffering from thalassaemia, tested positive for the virus between January and May 2025, according to officials. However, the matter came to light only on Tuesday.

Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla, who also holds the Health portfolio, said the children are being treated at the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre under the guidance of Central government agencies and that a State-level committee has been formed to probe the matter and trace the donors.

“The children suffering from thalassaemia are given blood two to three times in a month. It’s not necessary that the blood is given from one particular centre. It is being told that they [some children] had also visited Jabalpur so it could have happened there or at some private centres. This committee will probe everything and the facts will come out,” Mr. Shukla said, speaking to the media.

“Blood is taken from any donor after all the tests. But the committee has been formed to find out why such a situation arose,” he said, adding that strict action will be taken if negligence is found at any level.

Earlier, Satna Collector Satish Kumar S. said an internal investigation at the hospital level has also been launched into the matter.

Dr. Manoj Shukla, the chief medical and health officer incharge and civil surgeon of the district hospital, said he has issued a show cause notice to the nodal officer of the National AIDS Control Organisation as the matter was not brought to his attention, even as a screening process to trace the donors was already under way.

He said that the parents of one of the children were already infected with HIV.

The committee also includes Ruby Khan, Deputy Director of the State Blood Transfusion Council; Romesh Jain, blood transfusion specialist at AIIMS, Bhopal; Seema Naved of the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre; Sanjeev Jadon, senior drug inspector of the Food and Drug Administration in Hoshangabad; and Priyanka Choubey, drug inspector of the same department in Bhopal.