09 February,2009 06:22 PM IST | | Alisha Coelho
In a statement issued to the media, Jaslok Hospital on Monday denied any negligence on its part in the examination of Arvind Gupta (28).
"The test was run on Abbott's, Axsym Plus Autoanalyser using HIV Ag/Ab Combo kit, which is a very sensitive test. It is a microplate enzyme immunoessay (MEIA) for simultaneous qualitative detection of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus type I and/ or Type II and HIV P24 antigen in human serum or plasma. This is just a screening test. The patient was told clearly to confirm the HIV status by the Western Blot test, but never came back. We were then shocked to see the reports in the media where he stated that our tests had declared him HIV positive," said hospital CEO Colonel M Masand.
Masand also denied reports of 'raids' taking place at the hospital. "I'm not running a dance bar here. We have ordered an internal inquiry into whether protocol was followed. However the officials from the Mumbai District Aids Control Society only came to meet the medical director. Reports of his tests being seized are absolutely untrue," said Masand.
Gupta had earlier stated that he had lost his job because of two reports from Jaslok Hospital where he had tested positive in HIV tests, whereas reports from three other labs had tested him as negative. Following this, MDACS had ordered an inquiry into the matter.
