RG Kar Medical College limits Mannitol Injection use after doctors raise safety concerns

Kolkata: Following the tragic death of a 21-year-old woman at Midnapore Medical College and Hospital due to expired intravenous fluid, several doctors of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital have raised concern regarding the safety of a new drug - Mannitol injection alleging that it could potentially threaten patients' safety. Acting on this, the authorities of the medical college have decided to restrict the use of this particular injection as a precautionary measure. 

Mannitol is an antihypertensive agent belonging to Osmosis Diuretics. It is used to force urine production in people with acute kidney failure. It treats pressure and swelling from heart, kidney, or liver disease and also treats swelling around the brain or eyes.   

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As per a Millennium Post news report, this drug is important for the treatment of cardiac patients. It is applied on the patient in the golden hour in case of cardiac arrest or brain stroke patients.  

However, the medical college has decided that its doctors will no longer prescribe the drug by name, reflecting concerns about its potential risks. Apart from passing the directive, the college management also escalated the matter to the state Health Department for further evaluation. 

"This batch which we decided to recall was locally purchased. Though there is no adverse drug report, doctors reported some opacity and we took a precautionary decision to recall the particular batch. There is no issue in the other batches," a source at RG Kar Medical College told TOI. 

The decision comes in the wake of growing scrutiny over the safety of intravenous fluids in government hospitals. Last month, Medical Dialogues reported that the state health department directed all the state medical colleges and hospitals across the state to ban the use of 10 intravenous fluids to ensure patient safety. The banned fluids include Ringer Lactate, Ringer Solution, dextrose injection, ofloxacin, and sodium chloride irrigation solution among others. 

The action was taken after a 21-year-old woman passed away following childbirth at Midnapore Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal's Paschim Midnapore following which her family members raised serious concerns about the saline administered to her during treatment. The drug also left four others critically ill who were shifted to state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College and Hospital in South Kolkata following a sharp deterioration in their medical conditions.

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