A 25-year-old married woman in a coastal Orissa district has claimed a compensation of Rs 10 lakh from the state government after two government-run health centres, including a prestigious medical college hospital wrongly diagnosed her to be a HIV positive patient.

Manjubala Das of Odision village in coastal Jagatsinghpur district has registered a case in this regard in the district Consumer Dispute Redresal Forum.

In June last year, the lady and her husband had gone to the government-run district headquarters hospital in Jagatsinghpur town as she was pregnant.

When she and her husband went through the mandatory HIV test, the blood samples which were sent to the district voluntary confidential counselling and testing centre (VCCTC) diagnosed her to be a HIV positive patient.
However, her husband was found to be HIV negative. A second HIV test conducted at another government run hospital in Cuttack also confirmed her to be a HIV positive.

Ironically, the authorities in the government-run hospital in Jagatsinghpur refused to conduct her delivery fearing the spread of virus. She finally delivered a baby girl at a community health centre (CHC) at Balikuda last month.
Later, the couple again went to a government-run medical college hospital at Berhampur in southern Orissa Ganjam district. Here she was tested HIV negative. This came as a big surprise and relief for the young couple.

Ostracised by their families and villagers for being tested HIV positive, the woman has claimed compensation from the state government on the ground that the first two tests conducted at the government run hospitals had caused immense mental trauma for her and her husband.