An expectant mother was wrongly diagnosed as HIV positive by a private hospital resulting in mental and emotional stress, her husband said, demanding an apology from the hospital.
Pakistani expatriate Khizra Afreen Farhad, 29, a Sharjah resident, was expecting her second child. She had registered at an Ajman hospital for delivery and was consulting with a doctor at its Sharjah branch.
In the last week of her third trimester on December 9, the doctor advised her to do some routine tests. These included blood tests to screen for infectious diseases such as Hepatitis A, B, C, HIV and HPV. The next day, at the follow-up consultation, the doctor informed her that she was HIV positive.
The test done by the hospital’s laboratory followed the ECLIA (Electro chemiluminiscence Immuno Assay) method.It indicated an HIV anti-body load of 1.26 out of two (see box).
Recalling the trauma, Afreen said: “The doctor said she would have normally informed my husband, but since he did not accompany me, she broke the news to me and then asked to speak to my husband over the phone. I broke down as this sounded like a death sentence, but she did placate me.”
