Balasore, June 20: Parents of a four-year-old girl today approached the district collector for financial help for the treatment of their daughter, who they claim has been infected with Hepatitis C.

The couple, residents of Paduanpada in Balasore town, said that their daughter was suffering from thalassemia and had to undergo blood transfusion. They claimed that the child was transfused with blood that was infected with Hepatitis C virus. The incident took place at the Balasore district headquarters hospital, where the child regularly undergoes blood transfusion.

The child had been taken for blood check up at the SCB Hospital, Cuttack, on May 28, when the infection in the blood was detected.

The lab report said that the blood sample tested positive for Hepatitis C, but added that a confirmatory Elisa test was required. On June 7, the blood sample was sent to Delhi through a laboratory in Cuttack for further confirmation, the parents said.

Balasore district collector Pramod Das said: "If the confirmatory test finds the blood sample to be Hepatitis C positive, the treatment cost will be provided from the Odisha State Treatment Fund."

The child father Sheikh Sujud Alam, who is a television and electronic gadgets mechanic, said: "With lot of hardship I make ends meet. The test report is like a bolt from the blue. The treatment will cost me Rs 3.5 lakh, which I cannot afford. Therefore, I have urged the district collector to provide the treatment cost."

"I am sure that the infected blood was transfused during the monthly transfusion," he said.

Ever since the minor was detected with thalassemia, she has been undergoing blood transfusion with blood from the district headquarters hospital's blood bank.

It would take a fortnight to get the report of the blood sample that had been sent to Delhi, Sujud said.

Blood bank officer Basant Kumar Upadhyay, however, refuted the charge of providing infected blood to the girl child.

"We have a foolproof testing mechanism. We do not store infected blood. There is no chance of supplying infected blood to the patients," he said.