HIV-positive boy seeks compensation from medical facilities

CHANGSHA, Aug 3 (Xinhua) -- An 8-year-old boy from central China's Hunan Province is seeking compensation for being infected with AIDS after receiving hospital treatment.

According to Zhangjiajie health authority, the boy was confirmed HIV positive in July 2015, after receiving a blood transfusion in January, 2014 when he was seriously injured in a traffic accident.

The authority said that although the boy had definitely been infected, it was difficult to determine the exact source and route of the infection.

During a period of 18 months, he was hospitalized eight times in three different hospitals: Zhangjiajie people's hospital, the provincial children's hospital in Changsha and a Shanghai hospital.

He passed HIV screening tests before the hospital operations.

However,the boy also spent considerable time outside the hospitals, which makes ascertaining the precise source of the infection difficult.

In addition to the three hospitals, the co-defendants also include the Zhangjiajie city blood station and a Chinese biological company that produced the human serum albumin, which the boy received in a transfusion during his first operation.