Jaipur, May 26 (IANS). A serious health crisis erupted in Rajasthan when a batch of oxytocin injection manufactured by Jackson Laboratories was found to be substandard in laboratory tests related to the investigation of maternal deaths in Kota. Officials said that after investigation it was confirmed that disciplinary action is being taken against the said company and an immediate statewide ban has been imposed on the sale and use of the affected batch.
He has also directed hospitals, pharmacies and medical stores to remove the injections from their stock. Rajasthan Principal Secretary (Health) Gayatri Rathore confirmed to IANS that disciplinary action was being taken against the pharma company.
He also said that investigation is also going on whether this medicine was also given to other pregnant women admitted in the hospital. However, medical experts have warned against directly linking the injections to deaths. Gynecologist Ritika Mathur told IANS that the chances of maternal death due to the injection are very less.
He said that one of the dead women, Shireen, was reportedly not given the injection, yet she suffered kidney failure and died. The controversy deepened after the death of five women during treatment in Kota.
Following the incident, a team from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi visited Kota to investigate.
During the investigation, the expert team recommended that the medicines given to the patients should be investigated before drawing conclusions regarding the deaths.
Earlier, samples of the drugs were collected and sent for laboratory analysis, which revealed that the batch of oxytocin injection was substandard and did not contain the required active ingredient.
This finding has raised serious concerns among the state medical department and drug control officials. According to an official drug alert issued from the office of the Rajasthan Food Safety and Drug Control Commissioner, the sample failed the quality test conducted by the Central Drugs Laboratory.
The investigators reported that no trace amounts of oxytocin were found in the samples tested. It is being told that the injections were supplied to the hospitals of Kota through local procurement channels. Officials are now investigating whether the same batch of injections was distributed to other hospitals or had reached the open market.
Meanwhile, Assistant Drug Controller Devendra Kumar Garg said that a firm named Rajasthan Medical Hall had supplied the injection. He also said that these injections were given to about 12,500 women during delivery over a period of four months. However, after receiving the drug test reports on Monday, officials have seized the remaining stock of the failed batch.
The officials seized 2,479 injections, estimated to be worth around Rs 25,000, from the stock of Kota Medical College. 72 injections were seized from JK Lone Hospital, while around 950 injections kept with the supplier for onward distribution were also seized. Garg explained that these injections failed chemical analysis tests because they did not contain the essential active ingredient, oxytocin. He stressed that the use of the injection is unlikely to directly cause death, kidney failure or similar fatal complications.
–IANS
MS/ABM