Notably, taking a strong note of the utter negligence by health officials in Chaibasa, the Chief Minister had ordered the suspension of the Civil Surgeon and Medical Officer responsible for the same.

The matter came into light after family members of a child lodged a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner and the state government.

The Chief Minister, in his post on social media platform X, announced to provide financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to each of the families of the affected children, along with free treatment to the suffering children.

Taking Suo-moto cognisance of the incident, the Jharkhand High Court ordered an urgent probe into the matter and sought a detailed report from the state health department.

The court also directed officials to take strict accountability measures and prevent any further lapses.

Following the Court’s directive, a high-level medical investigation team from Ranchi visited Chaibasa on Saturday to inspect the hospital’s blood bank and related facilities.

During the investigation, it was discovered that four more children had tested HIV positive. The team inspected the hospital's blood bank and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) ward and gathered detailed information from the children's families.

Meanwhile, the medical team discovered several deficiencies and serious irregularities during their inspection of the blood bank and laboratory.

Preliminary findings indicate that poor testing protocols, lack of supervision, and procedural negligence may have allowed contaminated blood to be used for transfusions — a failure that has endangered several young lives.

Meanwhile, looking at the seriousness of the matter, a high-level six-member investigation team has been formed by the health department, headed by Special Secretary of the Health Department, Dr Neha Arora.

The team will thoroughly investigate the entire matter and submit a detailed report to the department. The team has also been directed to recommend necessary technical and administrative improvements to prevent such negligence in the future.