Probe ordered after 8 patients fall ill following injection at Balurghat Hospital

South Dinajpur: Months after the controversial expired saline incident at Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, which resulted in the death of a new mother and left four others in critical condition, a fresh case of alleged medical negligence has surfaced at the district super-speciality hospital in Balurghat, where eight new mothers reportedly fell seriously ill after being given Amikacin injections.

Soon after, they began exhibiting symptoms that worsened their condition. In response, the hospital administration shifted the affected mothers to the critical care unit on Friday night and Saturday morning. While all of them are currently stable, they remain under medical supervision.

It has been reported that the eight women who delivered babies in the past few days were administered Amikacin injection, which is usually injected to prevent infection in the uterus and post-caesarean infection. Shortly after receiving the injection, they began experiencing symptoms such as severe shivering and respiratory distress.

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In response to the incident, South Dinajpur’s Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), Dr. Sudip Das, visited the hospital along with a team of specialist doctors to assess the situation. He has since constituted a 10-member committee to investigate the case and formed a three-member medical board to oversee the treatment of the affected women.

According to The Telegraph sources, six of the eight women had delivered their children on Tuesday, while the other two had delivered babies a couple of days earlier. The incident triggered panic and outrage among the patients’ families, who blamed the hospital authorities for gross negligence.

Speaking to the media, Das said, “All eight women are stable but under treatment. We have formed a three-member medical board to treat the women. A 10-member committee has been constituted to probe the case. A clear instruction has been given to ensure that the particular batch is not used at the hospital to give the amikacin injection. We are checking out whether their health conditions deteriorated because of the injection or some other infection. We have also sterilised the operation theatre and samples from there, as well as samples of the injection have been sent for necessary tests."

However, this is not the first time such allegations have surfaced. Medical Dialogues had previously reported that a 21-year-old woman passed away after childbirth at Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. 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, and 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.

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