Appoint Proper Medical & Technical Staff At All Blood Banks Within 6 Months: Rajasthan High Court Directs State

The petitioners had filed the writ petition as a Public Interest Litigation Writ Petition ('PIL') and had made the National Aids Control Organisation, New Delhi (NACO) and the Rajasthan State Aids Control Society, parties to their petition. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) IV Generation test is a more comprehensive test used to detect acute HIV, by identifying both HIV-specific antigens and HIV antibodies in blood samples.

The respondents, which also included the Medical, Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of Rajasthan as well as the Drugs Controller General of India, stated that blood analysis through NAT was already available at two centres in Rajasthan and that ELISA IV Generation test kits, had also been already approved by the Rajasthan Government for usage.

Justices Sandeep Mehta and Kuldeep Mathur referred to an Expert Committee Report observing that proper manpower was not yet available in blood banks across the State, which had meant that sensitive medical equipment were not being put to proper use.

"We hereby direct the Medical and Health Department, Government of Rajasthan to ensure that proper medical and technical staff, wherever required, is selected and appointed in the blood banks across the State of Rajasthan at the earliest and as far as possible within next six months. The ELISA IV test kits shall henceforth be used uniformly in all blood banks/centres," said the Court.

Case Title: Rituraj Singh Rathore and Another v. Principal Secretary, Medical, Health and Family Welfare Department, Rajasthan and Others

Case No: D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 12718 of 2016

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Raj) 242 

Coram: Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Kuldeep Mathur

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