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HIV tainted blood flowing into India?
The Indian government`s clarification that it had not issued a license for importing human blood or blood products from South Africa has opened up a pandora`s box. At the same time an investigative report by the WHO has exposed the multi-million-dollar racket dealing in export of HIV-infected blood.
The Indian government’s clarification that it had not issued a license for importing human blood or blood products from South Africa has opened up a Pandora’s box. At the same time an investigative report by the WHO has exposed the multi-million-dollar racket dealing in export of HIV-infected blood.
According to the WHO report, the infected blood packets were labelled as ‘animal plasma’ to avoid the strict checks. Investigations so far show that the blood has mainly been moved on to India and China, where thousands were victims of contamination from it.
The report says that at least two British companies, one based in Guernsey and the other in Berkshire, have been investigated by Austrian detectives. They say unscrupulous processing companies in several countries re-labelled the contaminated blood from South Africa which has the largest HIV-infected population, as fit for therapeutic use, then sold it on to India and China. Meanwhile the Indian authorities say that import of whole human blood is not permitted in India. Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945, blood and blood products require a valid import license before they are allowed for import into the country, an official release said in New Delhi.
Even for blood products derived from blood plasma (fluid in which blood cells are suspended) there are policy guidelines that preclude any possibility of import of contaminated blood products into the country, the release said.
Every consignment of plasma-derived product has to indicate the source of plasma used for manufacture as well as the protocol followed for manufacturing by the firm.
Every importer has to furnish a batch releasing certificate from the manufacturer stating that the product being imported has not been withdrawn from the market of the exporting country. As an additional precaution, samples from every batch is also required to be tested at the time of import for absence of HIV, Hepatitis-B and Hepatitis-C virus.
Bureau Report
The report says that at least two British companies, one based in Guernsey and the other in Berkshire, have been investigated by Austrian detectives. They say unscrupulous processing companies in several countries re-labelled the contaminated blood from South Africa which has the largest HIV-infected population, as fit for therapeutic use, then sold it on to India and China. Meanwhile the Indian authorities say that import of whole human blood is not permitted in India. Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945, blood and blood products require a valid import license before they are allowed for import into the country, an official release said in New Delhi.
Even for blood products derived from blood plasma (fluid in which blood cells are suspended) there are policy guidelines that preclude any possibility of import of contaminated blood products into the country, the release said.
Every consignment of plasma-derived product has to indicate the source of plasma used for manufacture as well as the protocol followed for manufacturing by the firm.
Every importer has to furnish a batch releasing certificate from the manufacturer stating that the product being imported has not been withdrawn from the market of the exporting country. As an additional precaution, samples from every batch is also required to be tested at the time of import for absence of HIV, Hepatitis-B and Hepatitis-C virus.
Bureau Report