HIV girl's kin must go to top officials

"The girl's relatives say they will contact the Public Health Ministry for a talk," Yala Provincial Hospital director Kuldej Techanaparak said yesterday.

He was speaking after meeting with the girl's parents and an uncle to discuss what his institution could offer.

"Our hospital can help with medical expenses to some extent," he said.

"We should be able to get Bt200,000 from a malpractice-victim fund for the girl too. And under the National Health Security Act, the girl should also separately get up to Bt200,000."

But some of the girl's relatives were not that happy with the payouts, he said.

"If the girl's family wants more, they will have to talk to more senior officials," he said.

The patient had received donated blood a few times during treatment at Yala Provincial Hospital.

Nobody knew she had HIV until she developed diarrhoea over the past three months.

A blood test confirmed that she had caught the virus.

Doctors say donated blood is not completely safe because of the window period for testing a specific disease, particularly an infectious disease. That is the time between the first infection and when that infection can be reliably detected.

Noppadol Prangthong, the girl's uncle, said he would like to meet with the permanent secretary for the Public Health Ministry or the minister.

Dr Suphan Srithamma, head of the ministry's Centre for Peace in Healthcare, said if a malpractice victim wants higher compensation than generally provided by the National Health Security Act or Malpractice Victim Fund, authorities would decide on the case on an individual basis.

"If the girl's family wants a bigger amount, we can talk," Suphan said.

Authorities would want to offer the maximum possible, even though nothing could compensate the girl for what had happened, he said.

"Besides, we hope the girl's family understands that we also have limited resources," he added.