Delhi govt assures free blood transfusion to child

The city government today assured the Delhi High Court that it will provide free blood transfusion to an eight-year-old child suffering from Thalassemia.
The bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Manmohan was also told that All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) will conduct the bone marrow transplant to cure the child subject to the availability of a donor.
Converting a letter, written by the child's parents for court's intervention, into a PIL yesterday, the bench today summoned the couple.
Appearing before the bench, the couple said their son's blood transfusion takes place once in every fortnight and it costs about Rs 1500-2000 each time. But since his blood group O-ve is rare, they face difficulty in procuring blood.

Delhi government's counsel Zubeda Begum told the bench that the child's blood transfusion can be done at government hospitals like Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Lok Nayak or Guru Teg Bahadur without any cost.
Only the parents have to register themselves with the hospital, the lawyers also said.

The AIIMS counsel also told the court that the bone marrow transplant can be done only in AIIMS with a nominal charge subject to availability of a donor.
After recording the statement of the counsel of AIIMS and Delhi government, the court asked the couple to approach DDU for blood transfusion and AIIMS tomorrow for the transplant.

The court also asked the government counsel to file an affidavit giving details about the number of Thalassemia patients under going treatment in various government hospitals.