Kalawati Saran Children Hospital (KSCH) has been ordered by Delhi Consumer Commission to pay Rs 10 lakh as damages to the parents of a child for transfusing HIV infected blood to him 14 years ago in his infancy.

The child hospital and its doctor Ajay Kumar were held guilty by the commission of "sheer medical negligence" in giving the HIV–infected bloodtothethenthree–day–oldchild.Abenchof commission’s judicial member V K Gupta and member Salma Noor held the hospital guilty of negligence relying upon the documents of the medical history of the now 14–year–old boy, his parents and the expert opinion of the Medical Board of Maulana Azad Medical College.

The commission’s order had come on a complaint by the child’s parents who had said that their son was never free of ailments subsequent to his treatment at the KSCH in 1998 and was then diagnosed with HIV in 2006.Theysaidtheir son had undergone surgery at KSCH when 150 ml of blood was transfused to him, procured from the blood bank of Sucheta Kripalani Hospital affiliated to Lady Hardinge Medical College.

In its defence, the hospital had contended that the blood was procured from the blood bank of the medical college which had conducted necessary screening and testing of the blood. The hospital had added that only HIV negative blood had been transfused into the infant, so therewasnoquestionofnegligenceandcarelessness on its part.