Kazakh doctors charged over HIV child deaths

Prosecutors in Kazakhstan have charged eight doctors and senior health officials with criminal negligence over the infection of at least 61 children with HIV and the deaths of five, media and officials said yesterday.

The health ministry confirmed the number of infected children had risen to 61 and said a fifth child had died. Last week the Central Asian state's health minister was fired over the case.

The children, aged between two months and 10 years old, were infected in recent months in a hospital in the south of the country, apparently after receiving transfusions of blood contaminated with the virus. The Kazakhstan Today news agency quoted an official from the prosecutor's office as saying the criminal charges were brought several days ago against the former regional health director, two of his deputies and five doctors.

Police were also investigating forged signatures of six donors who received money for their blood, the agency said.

Health officials have been testing children for the virus near the city of Shymkent. About 2,000 more children are to be tested in the next few days.

HIV/AIDS infection levels have increased dramatically across Central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union, mainly among young drug addicts and in prisons.