Shafaq News – Basra
On Thursday, Iraq's Basra Provincial Council threatened to dismiss the head of the Health Directorate after a 13-year-old thalassemia patient contracted HIV during a blood transfusion at a local medical facility.
According to Shafaq News correspondent, an interrogation session of the directorate's head drew wide attention as the council reviewed multiple issues concerning the performance of health institutions, oversight procedures, and compliance with safety standards.
Ali Adnan, head of the council’s Health and Environment Committee, told our agency that the findings from the interrogation were “serious and require his dismissal.” He warned that if the council failed to act, the committee would take the matter to court, and confirmed that a new request for questioning would be filed despite attempts to pressure some members.
The Basra office of Iraq’s High Commission for Human Rights (IHCHR) announced it had filed a complaint on behalf of the child’s family and demanded an investigation into the case of a young girl whose father reported she was infected with HIV months earlier during a transfusion, without any results being disclosed. In addition, it called for an inquiry into the death of a woman at a private hospital following surgery.
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In response, the Basra Health Directorate denied negligence, stressing that all blood units undergo comprehensive laboratory testing for infectious diseases, including HIV, before reaching patients. It revealed that the Integrity Commission had collected more than 30 random blood samples from the central blood bank and the pediatric hereditary blood disease center, all of which tested negative.
The directorate confirmed it had received no personal claims of HIV infection other than a single case under ministerial review, with results still pending. It called on the IHCHR to guide families with grievances to its inspection department to file official complaints and allow a provincial inquiry to uncover the facts.