by Playfuls Staff |
20th March 2007
Nearly two dozen Kazakhstan doctors are accused of contributing to the country's AIDS epidemic by [more] ordering unnecessary blood transfusions.
The 21 physicians are on trial on medical malpractice charges they ordered transfusions from which they benefit financially, The New York Times said Tuesday. About 100 children treated at a Shymkent hospital have tested HIV positive since last summer, the newspaper said.
Their parents contend doctors charged patients $20 for 14 ounces of blood and split the money with the local blood bank. The doctors, whose salaries begin at about $175 a month, allegedly pocketed up to $10 per transfusion.
Greed may not be the motivating factor, however. Western doctors see a medical culture in parts of Eastern Europe, central Asia and elsewhere that promotes transfusions to improve patients' health or combat illnesses.
"It's dumb medicine," said Dr. Max Essex of the Harvard AIDS Institute.
That may be why one baby received 25 transfusions before he was found to have HIV, court documents show.
"It's insane," said Dr. Michael O. Favorov of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who headed an investigation that identified the transfusions of tainted blood as the source of the Shymkent outbreak. "This kid needed no blood."
© 2007 UPI
