SHARJAH // Doctors wrongly told a woman days away from giving birth that she was HIV positive, and her baby would have to be delivered by Caesarean section.
Khiza Afreen, 28, from Pakistan, endured four days of anxiety and stress before further tests confirmed that the diagnosis was incorrect, and she gave birth as normal two days later.
Ms Afreen had visited GMC Hospital in Sharjah on December 10 last year to collect blood-test results at her final check-up before giving birth.
“I was told that I was HIV positive and had to have a Caesarean to have my baby. I ran to the bathroom and started crying, I was afraid to give my mother the bad news.
“Last year, my dad passed away and my mother is old and can’t take a shock like this, so we hid this from her.”
Ms Afreen’s husband, Farhan Nasim, 35, a restaurant manager, was at work when his wife told him the news.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “She was crying and in very bad shape.”
A second hospital test on the same day came back negative, but patients who have tested positive are required to undergo a third Ministry of Health check to confirm their HIV status. This came back negative four days later, and Ms Afreen gave birth to a healthy baby boy on December 16.
“We had to go through days of grief and agony before we were told by the ministry that my wife did not have HIV,” said Mr Nasim.
“If there is a possibility that the results are a false positive, the hospital should not tell the patient, especially a pregnant woman in the last days of her pregnancy. We lived in agony and despair for four days before the Ministry of Health results came back.”
Hospitals carry out a baseline screening to test for hepatitis and HIV as standard before a woman is admitted to deliver a child.
False positive results in such tests were common, said Dr Nishi Singh, a virologist and chair of health sciences at Dubai Women’s and Men’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology.
“The testing carried out at hospitals for hepatitis and HIV is a baseline screening test. We look for the existence of antibodies,” she said.
“If the result comes back negative, then all is well. But if it is positive, we do an advanced test to make sure of the result.
“This type of exam does not differentiate between women who are pregnant or not. They are done for various reasons, including pregnancy, fitness reasons and surgery.”
Dr Singh said the initial tests were relatively inexpensive and produced quick results, which allowed hospitals to handle thousands of patients each year.
“The mistake in this case is that the patient was informed of the result of the baseline screening test before confirmatory test results were given.”
The hospital director, Manesh Singhal, said Ms Afreen had been supported by staff after being told she had tested positive for HIV.
“We offered counselling for her and we carried out a more thorough test on the same day, and the result was negative.
“The patient then took a third test at the Ministry of Health and the result was negative.”
tzriqat@thenational.ae
