No surgery, anaesthesia should be performed by PG medicos alone, Stop Ringer's Lactate saline usage: WB medical colleges ordered
Delhi Medical Council
Kolkata: Amid the controversy over the death of a new mother, who was given expired intravenous fluid, the West Bengal Health Department has issued a memo to all Chief Medical Officers of Health in the districts and principals of all medical colleges to stop using Ringer's Lactate (RL) saline. Apart from this, the department, in a separate notice, specified that post-graduate students should not conduct surgical or anaesthetic procedures by themselves.
These orders have been issued after the Health Department had set up a 13-member expert team to investigate the death of a new mother at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital (MMCH).
Medical Dialogues had recently reported that last Friday, a 21-year-old woman passed away after childbirth at MMCH. Consequently, her family raised serious concerns about the saline administered to her during treatment. This led to outrage and protests from the families of other patients as well as four more patients also fell ill due to the administration of the expired saline.
Those four patients were under treatment at the same hospital. Three of them were shifted to the State-run S.S.K.M. Medical College and Hospital in South Kolkata on Sunday night following a sharp deterioration in their medical conditions. Following this, the State Health Department formed a 13-member inquiry committee to investigate how expired saline was administered to these patients. On Monday, along with an administrative probe, the State Government ordered a CID probe also into the matter.
Amid this, the State Health Department on Monday directed the officials to "ensure total stoppage of the existing stock of Compound Sodium Lactate Injection (RL) supplied by Pashchim Banga Pharmaceutical Pvt Ltd in his/her jurisdiction. The existing stock if any should be withdrawn from wards/hospitals, if not already withdrawn, and must be kept in a sealed place," Indian Express has reported.
Issuing another notice, the Health Department directed "all faculty of anesthesiology, OBS and gynecology, general surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology, and ENT departments" to ensure that all the surgical procedures were being done by the "faculty/bed in charge".
'Human Error', says Probe panel report:
Meanwhile, the preliminary report filed by the expert committee indicated that "human error" and side effects of "other medicines" led to the death of a woman and three others falling critically ill after childbirth in the hospital allegedly due to the administration of "expired" fluid, a health department source said on Monday.
In the report, the experts also hinted that the Ringer's Lactate (RL) on the Intravenous (IV) fluid allegedly administered to the four women could have a "little role" in deteriorating the health conditions of the five women, he added.
A copy of the initial report on the incident, that occurred in the state-run Medinipur Medical College and Hospital (MMCG) recently, was submitted to Chief Secretary Manoj Pant on Monday.
"Initial findings indicated human error. There were other lapses too that led to the mishap. The administration of the RL may have a little role in it. There seem to be some procedural faults in the administration of the Oxytocin injection to these patients," the source told PTI.
Oxytocin injection is generally used to improve contractions during labour pain besides reducing bleeding after childbirth. The report also stated that none of the seniors who were supposed to be on duty at that time at MMCH were present and those delivery cases were handled only by trainee medics.
"The RL of the same batch was administered on other patients as well, but only these four women fell ill. So, contamination from that fluid could be ruled out. However, we are waiting for the final report from the drug control unit," he said.
Meanwhile, addressing the media, Chief Secretary Manoj Pank said that as per the report of the expert team constituted from SSKM Hospital, there were "serious negligence" on the part of the staff on duty on the day of the case at MMCH.
Among the three mothers who were critical after allegedly being given the saline, sources informed that ventilation support is being given to Mampi Singh (23) and Nasrin Khatun (19). Among them, Singh and Minara Bibi are admitted to the CCU, while Khatun is admitted to the ITU. Meanwhile, two PILs have been filed in this regard before the Calcutta High Court, which is set to hear the matter on January 16.
Last year between November 9 and 11, 2024, pregnant women at Ballari District Hospital had allegedly died due to bacterial and fungal contamination in the Ringer's Lactate solution administered to them. Initial investigations linked the tragedies to a suspected substandard batch of Ringer Lactate solution—a commonly used intravenous fluid for hydration and electrolyte balance.
The incident raised serious concerns about drug safety and regulatory oversight. The key point of contention lied in the conflicting reports from the state drug control department and the Central Drug Laboratory (CDL) in Kolkata. While the state department flagged several batches of the Ringer Lactate solution as substandard, the CDL cleared them, leading to questions about regulatory oversight and the reliability of quality assurance processes.
Earlier, the Karnataka Government had sought clarification in this regard and the Health Department Principal Secretary Harsha Gupta had formally addressed the issue in a letter to the Drugs Controller General of India, Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi.
Also Read: Bengal Expired Saline Death Case: Calcutta HC to hear PILs on January 16
