Six patients who received transplanted organs in Rio de Janeiro were infected with HIV. According to the State Health Department, the case is “unprecedented and unacceptable.”
The infections occurred after tests conducted by a private laboratory, PCS. The laboratory was contracted by the Health Foundation, under the responsibility of the State Health Department, to support the transplant program in the state and did not detect the presence of the virus. PCS had its services suspended immediately after the case was discovered and was closed as a precaution, according to the Department.
The Ministry of Health has ordered the National Audit of SUS to urgently conduct an audit of the transplant system in Rio de Janeiro and investigate irregularities in the hiring of the laboratory, among other measures.
Civil police in Rio de Janeiro conducted an operation to investigate the suspicion that the PCS laboratory was issuing false reports. The laboratory is accused of issuing reports stating that the two donors did not have HIV when, in fact, they were positive for the virus. This led to the HIV infection of six people who received the organs.
One of the partners of the PCS Lab Saleme, Walter Viera, was arrested. He stated in a police testimony that the preliminary result from the laboratory’s internal investigation indicates signs of human error in the transcription of the results of two HIV tests.
The PCS Lab Saleme emphasized that, in the last 12 months, it has conducted over 3 million tests and that, since December 1, when it began providing services to the Health Foundation of the Government of the State of Rio de Janeiro, it acquired at least 900 tests for HIV diagnosis in blood samples from organ donors, following recommendations from the Ministry of Health and the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).
The laboratory also reaffirmed that it will provide the necessary support to the victims “as soon as it has official access to their identities; and that it is available to the authorities investigating the case.”
Source: Agência Brasil