A grieving father, Praise Mumbor, has confirmed his worst fears after a new round of medical tests revealed that his one-year-and-nine-month-old son, Jeremiah Mumbor, is HIV-positive.
The Mumbor family has accused a private health facility in Edo State Safe Bliss Medical Centre, located opposite Oliha Primary School on Siluko Road in Benin City of infecting their son through a contaminated blood transfusion.
According to Mr. Mumbor, neither he nor his wife, Elisa Mumbor, is HIV-positive. He explained that the child’s diagnosis only came to light after the transfusion was carried out at the clinic.
Following the initial discovery, the Edo State Ministry of Health directed the family to undergo confirmatory testing at the Military Hospital, Benin.
“At the military hospital, the results showed the same thing my wife and I are negative, but our son is positive,” Mumbor said. “The head of the lab told me he conducted the test twice, and both times it came back positive for Jeremiah.”
He added that the lab official questioned why he hadn’t donated blood for his child. “I told him I actually volunteered to donate blood, but the clinic said the person in charge wasn’t available at the time and assured us they would provide matching blood for him.”
“So my son will have HIV forever,” the distraught father lamented.
The family is now demanding accountability as they grapple with the devastating reality of their child’s diagnosis.
