TIRUPATTUR: Arivu Dental Clinic (previously VTS Clinic), which was shut in Vaniyambadi in May following the death of eight patients in 2023, was reopened on Friday, based on an inspection report submitted by a dental counsel team to the health department.
Tirupattur Joint Director of Health and Rural Health Service (JDHS) V Gnana Meenakshi told TNIE, “All the documents submitted by the clinic were verified and were found to be in compliance with the Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishment Act, 1997. Hence, the clinic’s licence has been renewed.”
Three members deputed by the Tamil Nadu Dental Council conducted an inspection at the clinic on July 15. As per the team’s report, the staff members at the clinic showed all the facilities for instrument cleaning, autoclaving, and storing of sterile instruments.
The inspection report stated that the clinic had a working autoclave front-loading type suited for dental instruments, a UV chamber for storing sterile instruments for 24 hours, verifiable colour-changing strips used for previous autoclave sessions till the last working day before the clinic was shut were pasted in a register, and proper bio-medical waste disposal methods with segregation were found to be in place. In the report, the team said it had no objection to allowing the clinic to reopen.
In 2023, eight patients who had received treatment at the clinic died following an infection. The bacterium responsible for neuro melioidosis, Burkholderia pseudomallei, was found in a saline bottle at the clinic. Highlighting poor hygiene practices, a Lancet study noted, “Normal saline supplied in sterile 500 ml plastic bottles was used for wound irrigation during surgical procedures as well as for dilution of the local anaesthetic used for infiltration. These bottles were opened using a non-sterile periosteal elevator (surgical instrument), loosely resealed and reused over subsequent days until they were empty.”