CUTTACK: In a disturbing disclosure, the Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL) has been found supplying substandard saline bottles to different hospitals under the State government’s Niramaya free drug scheme.
One such incident has come to the fore at SCB Medical College and Hospital where nearly 1,000 substandard and contaminated saline bottles have been freezed after they were tested by the Central Drug Laboratory at Kolkata.
However, by the time the test report was obtained, as many as 4,000 patients had already been administered with the saline putting them at great risk. The samples of Ringer’s lactate solution (RL) saline, which is a mixture of sodium chloride, sodium lactate, potassium chloride, and calcium chloride in water, were not of standard quality (NSQ). “There is no saline sterility besides the samples contain bacterial endotoxins,” stated the laboratory’s report which came five days back.
Lack of saline sterility means it is not fit for use, and if it contains bacterial endotoxins then the saline is dangerous, said experts of Pharmacology and Microbiology department. Such type of saline infusion could lead to reaction with patients experiencing fever accompanied by severe chills, and could be life threatening in case of adverse reaction, experts also said.
As per reports, the Surgery department of the premier government run hospital of the State had lodged a written complaint about supply of substandard Ringer’s lactate solution (RL) by OSMCL in September last week. The department had brought to the notice of the superintendent a case where a patient’s condition became serious following the administration of the saline.
Acting on the complaint, SCB MCH superintendent Prof. Lucy Das had written a letter to District Drug Control officials who then took the samples of the saline and sent to Central Drug Laboratory in Kolkata for testing. “Following the test report, we have freezed the stock of RL saline,” said medical store officer Dr. SC Singh.
However, letter will be issued to OSMCL for return of the stock of the saline belonging to that particular batch, said technical store keeper Dillip Sahu. As per reports, the OSMCL had supplied around 5,000 such saline bottles in July this year with expiry date up to October 2023. However, of the 5,000 saline bottles, around 1,000-plus are said to have been stocked up at a warehouse of SCB MCH, the rest have already been used. The matter of concern being apart from being supplied to SCB MCH, these saline bottles could have been provided to other medical colleges and hospitals, DHHs, CHCs and PHCs across the State.