Child injected with contaminated saline dies
Hyderabad, Feb.7 : After relentlessly waging a war against death for 62 days after being administered an contaminated IV saline, six-year old Sai Pravalika passed away in the early hours on Tuesday in Gandhi Hospital.
It might be recalled here that the small child was admitted in the hospital with fever on December 7. The nursing staff administered saline to her on December 15 after which she developed reaction like breathlessness and rash all over the body.
The girl’s father then noticed some insects floating in the saline bottle and alerted the duty nurse. When an attempt was made to cover up by taking away the contaminated saline bottle, the girl’s father snatched it and took it to the higher ups of the hospital administration.
It was alleged that the hospital authorities failed to act immediately and instead tried to suppress the fact about the child being administered a contaminated saline. When the issue was highlighted in the media, the Gandhi Hospital Superintendent ordered a probe into the incident and sent the saline bottle for analysis. Even before the inquiry report could by the Drug Control authorities, the girl died early this morning.
The child’s body was shifted to her native village in Jangaon district. The child’s father Bhikshapathy charged that his daughter died ause of the negligence of the hospital staff in injecting her with contaminated saline. He demanded the government to take stringent action against those responsible for his child’s death.
However the Superintendent of the hospital claimed that the child died of prolonged illness due to a rare neurological disorder and not due to contaminated saline as was being alleged by her parents. He further claimed that the saline bottles of the same batch were not found to be contaminated and the company which manufactures the saline has come forward to help in the ongoing investigation.
The doctors in the hospital claimed that the girl was being treated for recurring infection and bouts of pneumonia. It was further claimed that even if the saline was contaminated, the infection can be controlled within a week and cannot last for nearly two months.