Ringer’s lactate solution under scanner has passed lab tests: Mamata Banerjee
The criminal investigation department (CID) of West Bengal police is probing the January 10 death of Mamoni Ruidas
KOLKATA: The Ringer’s lactate solution suspected to have caused the death of a patient at Midnapore Medical College and Hospital in January has passed laboratory tests, chief minister Mamata Banerjee told the West Bengal legislative assembly on Tuesday.
“Samples of the saline were sent to two government-approved laboratories and it passed the tests. We have received the reports,” Banerjee, who is also in charge of the health department, told the assembly during her reply to the governor’s address at the inauguration of the ongoing budget session.
The criminal investigation department (CID) of West Bengal police is probing the January 10 death of Mamoni Ruidas. Three other women who gave birth at the state-run hospital in Midnapore district around the same time also fell critically ill after giving birth, amid allegations that they were administered “defective” Ringer’s Lactate on the IV fluid during the Caesarean deliveries.
They were rushed to Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital, and two of them are still undergoing treatment.
“I met both last week. They are doing well,” Banerjee told the assembly.
After going through the report of a 13-member inquiry committee state chief secretary Manoj Pant last month directed the CID to probe the case since serious negligence on the part of those who handled the caesarian surgeries was detected.
“The procedure (C-section) of treatment was not followed properly. Two operations were performed simultaneously. On-duty doctors did not go to see patients. They did not perform a single surgery personally and when called inside the OT, the RMO went inside once. On bed tickets, patient parties were asked to give a declaration written in Bengali that there may be a probable adverse reaction,” Pant told reporters on January 16.
“None of the protocols was followed. Senior doctors whose presence were mandatory were absent. So, it proved to be a case of negligence,” he said.
CID checked all duty rosters at the gynecology department where Ruidas gave birth to a boy on January 8. Her condition deteriorated after the operation. The CID team seized security camera footage and talked to senior doctors and some trainees.
Eleven of them are now facing investigation because it was found that the patients suffered the effects of a drug that was administered alongside the Ringer’s lactate solution, which affected the kidneys, officials said.
The government earlier directed state hospitals to stop using, until further orders, all 10 products purchased from Paschim Banga Pharmaceutical, the company that manufactured the Ringer’s lactate solution.