Niloufer cocks a snook at mandatory tests

HIV tests being not conducted on patients to be operated Sudheer Goutham Hyderabad: Children and their mothers undergoing treatment at Niloufer Hospital in Hyderabad are becoming prone to life risks. A Despite the much-talked about state-of-art facilities at the premier mother and child care hospital of the State, there is a non-serious approach to mandatory screening for highly infectious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis B. "The patients in the hospital are made to undergo surgeries without mandatory tests for highly infectious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis B," complained an anaesthetist of Niloufer Hospital. This unhealthy practice makes the normal patients susceptible to dreadful diseases. Extra precautions are to be taken while treating or operating on patients who have been tested positive to these highly infectious diseases. Adding to the hospital's woes, used surgical instruments including suction tubes, laryngoscopes and endotracheal tubes are reportedly being reused. Surgical instruments used for operating one patient are used on another without proper sterilisation.There are high chances for a normal baby or mother undergoing a surgery to contract these deadly diseases if the patient operated before them is tested positive to these diseases. "Even the medical staff including doctors, nurses and others handling surgeries were exposed to high risks," he added. "Hepatitis B is a highly infectious viral disease. Those infected with it are susceptible to liver failure or liver cancer. Also, AIDS Human Immuno Virus is highly infectious," said member of AP Junior Doctors' Association Dr Aditya Kabra. When The Hans India contacted Superintendent of Niloufer Hospital Dr Daruru Ranganath on the issue he said, "It is a general practice in corporate hospitals where everyone is asked to undergo these tests invariably, to inflate the medical bills of patients." "However, in Niloufer we perform these tests on high-risk patients, especially those who have to undergo caesarean procedures and those who show signs of falling ill often," he added. A But doctors at the hospital wonder how one can ascertain a patient as a high risk person by looking at his or her physical appearance. Medical experts said that there were very simple tests for screening people suffering from HIV and Hepatitis B disease which could be completed in few minutes prior to a surgery. A These tests can cost anywhere between Rs 300-400 in the market and the government can provide the test kits for the screening at subsidised price to public hospitals and can save many lives.