TIRUPATTUR: A private dental clinic in Vaniyambadi was shut down on Tuesday, as its explanation on the death of eight of its patients in 2023 was found to be “unsatisfactory”. The show-cause notice seeking the explanation on the deaths due to neuromelioidosis - a bacterial infection affecting the brain - was sent by joint director of Health and Rural Health Services, V Gnana Meenakshi.
Speaking to TNIE, Meenakshi said the notice was issued to the clinic’s dentist S Arivarasan and that she became aware of the issue only recently, after the matter was reported in the media.
The issue resurfaced in the media recently after a study – jointly conducted by CMC Vellore, ICMR-NIE, and the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Public Health – was published in the medical journal The Lancet.
As per an official communication, the then JD K Marimuthu had given the clinic a clean chit and had even recommended removing a seal. The clinic was sealed following public outcry at that time. It was later reopened in another building under a new name, a few metres away from the earlier one. It, however, remains unclear as to how the clinic was allowed to function in the intervening period. Senior state-level health department officials and Tirupattur Collector K Sivasoundaravalli could not be reached for a comment.
The Lancet study identified 21 cases of neuromelioidosis in TN between July 2022 and April 2023. Most of the cases were from Tirupattur, and a few were from Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, and Krishnagiri districts. Ten of the patients had undergone procedures at the Vaniyambadi clinic, and among them, eight had died within 17 days of getting infected.
The bacteria responsible for neuromelioidosis, Burkholderia pseudomallei, was found in a saline bottle at the clinic. Highlighting poor hygiene practices at the clinic, the 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 (a dental surgical instrument), loosely resealed, and reused over subsequent days until they were empty.”
The study directly links 10 neuromelioidosis cases in Tirupattur to the clinic. Sources said one infected patient remains unidentified, and another, a resident of New Town, is bedridden. Although her family said the infection has subsided, she has not regained mobility.