The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Drug samples taken from hospital for tests

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 12, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Drug samples taken from hospital for tests

Staff Reporter

Children developed shivering reportedly after drug was administered

Test results to be available after two weeks
Human Rights Commission seeks report

Thiruvananthapuram: The Drugs Control Department has taken samples of the drug and the diluting fluid, syringe and canula that were used to administer it intravenously to the children in the paediatric ward of the Thycaud Women and Children (W&C) Hospital on Tuesday night, following which several children had developed shivering.

The Drugs Control Department officials said it was highly unlikely that the drug could have triggered the said reaction. However, it is to be examined whether the drug solution that was mixed for multi-vial administration was left open, which could have rendered it non-sterile.

The test results of the samples would be available only after two weeks.

Meanwhile, the 50-odd children in the paediatric ward at W&C Hospital and the three children who were referred to the SAT Hospital on Tuesday following the shivering episode were doing fine.

Hospital Superintendent R. Babu said all children in the paediatric ward, most of whom had fever and associated respiratory infections, were being administered the drug, Cefotaxim, along with other supportive drugs for the past two days.

However, one child had developed shivering half-an-hour after the Cefotaxim injection on Tuesday night, following which a mass reaction was triggered in the ward, leading to much panic among parents. Paediatricians and duty doctors took care of the situation immediately and three children, who did show signs of shivering, were referred to the SAT hospital.

Government supply

Dr. Babu said the drugs were part of the Government supplies and that the shivering could have been because of the fever itself.

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has suo motu taken a case over the incident. SHRC Chairperson N. Dinakar visited the paediatric ward on the fifth floor in the Thycaud hospital on Wednesday.

He also sought to know why the lift in the multi-storey building was not functional.

The Superintendent has been asked to submit a report on the drug incident by Thursday.

The Yuva Morcha and the Youth Congress activists staged a protest outside the hospital seeking an explanation by the authorities about the drug incident.

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