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But the Bumrungrad International Hospital, where the man has been receiving treatment for years, said that the infected blood came from the Thai Red Cross and that it was likely that the anonymous donor would found in a "window serological" – before it was possible to detect HIV in the blood.
The case has nonetheless triggered public concerns and questions about the safety of the blood provided by hospitals and the Red Cross.
The 24-year-old man decided to disclose his plight only because the hospital denied him access to medical services. His parents chose not to sue when his infection was detected, because the administrators of Bumrungrad had promised to take the best possible care of him.
After a decade of free treatment at the hospital, the family decided to switch to herbal medicines, but the results were not satisfactory. So they went back to the hospital. They simply asked the patient to seek treatment under the Bt30 Universal Health Plan.
"My son has had leukemia since the age of nine and so far we have spent about 7 million pounds on his treatments," the mother told reporters.
His son initially received chemotherapy in Bumrungrad, but his white blood cell count was low and 14 blood transfusions followed.
"His condition improved with the transfusions, but after the twelfth pocket of blood, he suddenly began to deteriorate," the mother said. Shortly after, the hospital discovered that he was HIV positive.
The communication division of Bumrungrad Hospital admitted last week that the patient had been treated at the hospital since 2004 and said he believed the infection came from the blood of a donor who was in the HIV.
Expressing his regret for the patient's fate, the public relations team said he had undergone 266 treatments during the time he was treated at the hospital. He indicated that the hospital was determined to provide him with assistance in accordance with humanitarian principles.
Dr. Ubonwan Charoonrungrit, director of the National Blood Center of the Thai Red Cross Society, said the risk of contracting HIV through blood transfusion was low, but that it already existed.
"We are continually improving the screening process for blood donations," she said.
Other health professionals agree that the blood screening is trustworthy, even if it remains "a risk on a million" to be infected. The solution to avoid such incidents lies in the honesty of the donors as to their state of health.
Medical technologist Pakphum Dechhassadin, who runs the popular Mor Lab Panda Facebook page, enlightened the subject in a post on Friday.
Screening devices can only detect the HIV virus about 11 days after exposure, he said. The blood of the donors will therefore be accepted in the meantime.
Noting that some people donate blood just for free HIV testing, Pakphum warned that they could put a serious innocent human at risk.
Instead, he said, get an HIV test at the anonymous Thai Red Cross clinic.
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