SRIKAKULAM: Two people died and seven are critical after being administered an antibiotics drug at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here. They were given a dose of Ceftriaxone on Friday evening and started developing severe reactions to it by night, following which the three worst affected were rushed to King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam, but two of them — E Sailaja, 24, from Kasipuram village in Kotturu mandal and S Anitha, 38, from Palasa — succumbed to the medicine’s side effects on Saturday morning.
The seven whose conditions are critical are at the ICU of RIMS. Ten of the 19 patients who were administered the drug escaped with mild reactions and are still being treated at the women’s ward in the hospital. “A total of 19 victims had vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, rise in BP and breathing problems immediately after being administered the dose,” RIMS resident medical officer (RMO) Dr Appalanaidu said.
“After they showed negative reactions, we administered an antidote to all 19, moved seven to our intensive care unit and sent three to KGH as their health was deteriorating rapidly. Ten continue to be treated at the women’s ward as their condition is improving,” he added. Sailaja was admitted to RIMS on Friday as she was suffering from fever and Anitha on July 31 with more or less the same symptoms.
The other woman who was moved to KGH, D Santamma, a resident of Ichchapuram, recovered by Saturday morning. Though Ceftriaxone was administered to people in other wards on the same day, none of them showed any reactions. The medicine which was manufactured in March this year is usable till February 2020. Medical college director Dr Krishna Veni ordered an inquiry into the incident after informing the same to the Directorate of Medical and Health officials and other higher officials.
Suspecting that the problem may have been either in the preparation of the injections using diluents or a particular pack of medicine, medical authorities sent the samples to Kolkata for a laboratory test. On coming to know of it, Srikakulam drug inspector A Krishna rushed to RIMS and spoke to the doctors and nursing staff as well.