Violations Raise HIV Concerns In Kazakh Capital
November 15, 2006
November 15, 2006 -- Kazakh prosecutors have reportedly found numerous violations in the preparation, storage, and use of donated blood in Astana's medical institutions.
A senior official with the Astana prosecutor's office, Duman Karzhaspaev, said today that investigators have found instances of blood transfusions from donors suffering from tuberculosis or chronic alcoholism.
He also said doctors had made transfusions using blood from donors who had not been tested for HIV, or plasma that had not been quarantined after being unfrozen.
In related news, prosecutors in teh southern Jambyl region today said they had registered one case of HIV infection through the transfusion of contaminated blood.
A nationwide investigation into medical institutions has been ordered after seven infants died of AIDS in the southern city of Shymkent.
Authorities believe the children contracted the disease after receiving HIV-contaminated blood while in hospital.
(Kazakhstan Today, Kazinform)