CHENNAI: The drug control department collected samples of dexamethasone from the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) in Tiruchy, after the hospital flagged three cases of adverse reaction to the injection of the drug, including the recent death of a 20-year-old nursing student who had undergone elective septoplasty procedure at the hospital.
According to official sources, the Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation (TNMSC) supplied MGMGH with 4,000 ampoules of dexamethasone (a corticosteroid) in April, of which nearly 3,700 were already used and around 300 remaining in stock.
The drug control department collected the remaining samples and sent them to King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research, Guindy, and results are awaited. Health inspectors also recalled the supply of 8mg dexamethasone (batch number CHI-60004) from government hospitals across the state.
On May 29, Dr S Kumaravel, dean of MGMGH, wrote to the director of medical education and research requesting urgent drug analysis and necessary preventive action. The dean had mentioned that the concern was raised by the professor and head of anaesthesiology department regarding the adverse reactions.
The dean observed adverse reactions in the three patients, which included ventricular tachyarrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, severe left ventricular dysfunction, hypotension and refractory cardiogenic shock, following intravenous administration of the drug from the batch.
Furthermore, retrospective analysis revealed that the 20-year-old nursing student, who underwent elective septoplasty on May 22, had also developed similar clinical features after administration of dexamethasone from the batch.
A senior TNMSC official said, “Other than these three cases we have not received information about any other cases from hospitals so far. We have issued a ‘stop order’ and sent samples of the drug for testing. The test report is awaited.”
Regarding the death of the nursing student, another senior official said, “We can confirm the cause of death only after we receive the postmortem report.”