A BLOOD collection center in Hebei Province is suing a newspaper for libel after a report accused it of spreading the HIV virus.

The report in the China Pharmaceutical News on Nov. 29 was false and had seriously affected the center's reputation, bringing "a certain level of chaos to the social order," Jia Yangli, head of the Xingtai Blood Center, said in the writ.

It asks the Qiaoxi District People's Court to "restore its reputation and eliminate its impact nationwide."

It wants the newspaper to apologize and pay all legal costs.

The hearing, originally scheduled to start Monday, was adjourned to May 9 after the defendant requested more time to prepare its case, the South China Morning Post reported.

The center said the report, which covered the sale and alleged mismanagement of blood in Xingtai, alleged its blood products were tainted with the HIV virus.

The China Pharmaceutical News report prompted the Ministry of Health to order the Hebei Provincial Health Department to investigate blood supplies in Xingtai in December and January.

A notice issued by the Provincial Health Department on Feb. 23 to the city health bureau did not directly confirm the report, but the notice did ask it to increase the supervision of blood supplies and strengthen its crackdown on illegal blood sales.

Editor: Wing