Woman dies, family files police complaint
MUMBAI: Saira Shaikh, 47, who was admitted to KEM hospital after reaction to two injections administered at KB Bhabha hospital in Kurla passed away on Tuesday night.
Shaikh was one of the 28 women who were given the ceftriaxone and cefotaxime injections intravenously on Monday around 9:30pm. Soon after, all women started to have convulsions and complained of breathlessness, nausea and giddiness.
The health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is in the proc tee to look into the matter. Also, the stock of the two injections have been sealed and withdrawn from use.
According to Shaikh’s family, she was to be discharged on Monday. “She had a fever since Sunday We took her to Bhabha she had typhoid. The only concern was that her platelet count was low,” said Noor Mohamed Shaikh, Shaikh’s husband.
Alleging that the injection “poisoned her”, Shaikh’s family lodged a police complaint and demanded that a post mortem be conducted. Her body was then shifted to JJ hospital. “We were sceptical of the post mortem being carried out at KEM and the police also decided that it should be conducted at JJ,” said Noor. JJ hospital, however, has withheld the cause of death pending chemical analysis and histopathology reports.
According to the director public health, Dr Suhasini Nagda, the BMC had procured 3 000 vials of distributed in civic hospital, and 2,170 of the 3,714 vials of cefotaxime were also given out.
“We carried out an immediate and preliminary inquiry to ensure that the drugs were not expired and there was due diligence in administering the injections. Our senior pharmacologists will check what could have led the allergic reactions,” said Nagda, adding that four men were administered the same injection, but they did not develop any complications. The FDA has already collected the samples for tests.
Senior inspector Vinod Shinde, Kurla police station, said “A panel from JJ hospital will submit a report on the cause of death after