HIV-tainted blood scandal rocks hospitalsHealth minister orders probe as nation reels from shock
TEBOHO KHATEBE MOLEFI
MASERU – Health minister, Selibe Mochoboroane, has taken decisive action following revelations of HIV-positive blood being transfused to patients. Mochoboroane told this publication he has established a team to investigate the potentially widespread negligence within the national blood supply chain.
Upon Public Eye’s questions on the issue, the minister confirmed the cabinet had not yet discussed the matter but requested the names of the affected patients, stating, “I want to get to the bottom of it.”
This investigation was triggered by alarming cases uncovered by sources to whom this publication spoke.
In one instance, a 15-year-old leukaemia patient tested negative for HIV upon admission to St Joseph’s Hospital and later Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) where she received multiple blood transfusions.
The patient was later transferred to a Bloemfontein hospital when her condition worsened. Upon several tests at the hospital she tested positive for a full-blown HIV infection. With no other risk factors evident from her history, doctors concluded the infection was likely from a transfusion and alerted QMMH to investigate.
Sources tell this publication that the Bloemfontein doctors were concerned because the teenager was not sexually active and both her parents were HIV negative.
A second case involved a blood donor from a local mining company whose sample tested positive, but the result was erroneously entered into the system as negative. The tainted blood – unit 0103143 – was sent to QMMH but, according to sources, was never transfused into a patient – however, the blood pint has neither been traced nor disposed of.
The error was only discovered months later when the donor returned to give blood again, with the staff perplexed to see the donor returning to donate again whilst he had tested positive.
Public Eye has established that efforts by QMMH to investigate these incidents with the Lesotho Blood Transfusion Service (LBTS) and Laboratory Services were met with silence.
Eventually a critical systemic failure was revealed, broken blood bank fridges meant donor blood samples were not stored, making it impossible to retrospectively test the batches and trace the source of infection.
This appears not to be an isolated error.
Sources report a pattern of clerical negligence, with at least eight pints of HIV-positive blood recorded as negative in the system since last July.
Apart from QMMH this tainted blood has been taken to Scott Hospital in Morija, Ntšekhe Hospital, Seboche Hospital, Elite Path – which supplies the Maseru Private Hospital and PIH, which deals with cancer patients.
These pints – comprising blood units 0085240, 0085502, 0085531, 0085556, 0085621, 0085855, 0085658 and 0084991 have tested positive, for not just HIV, but syphilis too.
Other pints were disposed off because they were under filled.
This crisis places Lesotho in direct violation of its binding international and continental legal obligations. The nation has ratified key treaties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrine the right to health and life.
Regionally, Lesotho is bound by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Maputo Protocol, which explicitly guarantees women the right to “adequate and affordable health services, including information and education on blood safety.”
Under these laws, knowingly transfusing infected blood constitutes a severe criminal offense and a gross human rights violation.
Transfusion due to negligence – a result of improper staff training and failed systems, as alleged by sources – constitutes professional misconduct and medical malpractice.
This creates grounds for civil lawsuits for compensation, administrative sanctions like license revocation and potential criminal charges for negligence.
Lesotho bears a positive duty under these ratified treaties to establish a safe, regulated blood supply. The failure to do so, and the alleged cover-up and lack of response from responsible agencies, not only represents a catastrophic health system failure but also a breach of international law, for which the government can be held accountable both domestically and before bodies like the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Knowingly transfusing contaminated blood to a patient constitutes a severe criminal offense – attempted murder, grievous bodily harm – and a gross human rights violation, and attracts the highest penalties.
Done unknowingly, due to negligence, it constitutes professional misconduct, medical malpractice and a violation of the patient’s right to health.
It primarily leads to civil liability (compensation) and administrative sanctions (license revocation), but can also lead to criminal charges for manslaughter or criminal negligence if the patient dies.
International law also sets the standard and provides the human rights foundation that national laws are expected to follow.
The cornerstone is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which recognizes the right to the highest attainable standard of health (Article 12), which states governments have a duty to respect, protect, and fulfill this right.
Transfusing HIV positive blood is a direct violation of this right.
Then there is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) enshrines the right to life (Article 6).
A knowing transfusion that leads to death could be argued as a violation of this fundamental right.
International guidelines on HIV/Aids and human rights – developed by UNAIDS and the OHCHR – emphasizes that states must enact legislation to regulate the blood supply and ensure the highest standards of safety and quality control. This places a direct obligation on governments and, by extension, hospital administrations.
Both international and African continental law treat the transfusion of HIV positive blood with extreme seriousness. A knowing act is a severe crime and a gross human rights violation, leading to criminal prosecution and the end of a medical career.
Lesotho has a positive obligation under international and regional human rights law to establish a safe, regulated blood supply system and to hold both individuals and institutions accountable when this system fails, regardless of intent – and having ratified both the ICESCR and the ICCPR in 1992, government is legally bound by its provisions, including the obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the right to health and bound to protect the right to life (Article 6) and ensure effective remedies for violations.
