28 women patients get worse after antibiotic concoction at Kurla Bhabha hospital, 1 critical

Shaikh, a resident of Mahabaleshwar, had come to live at her relative’s house in Mumbai last week. She was admitted to Kurla Bhabha hospital after she had fever. On Monday, doctor fixed her discharge day as Tuesday, however, she became unconscious soon after she was injected the antibiotics.

Following the incident, an FIR was filed at Kurla police station. Drug samples have been sent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for inspection.
According to sources, two drugs – Ceftriaxone 1,000 mg from Zee lab and Cefotaxime 1,000 mg from Sanjivani Pharma – were mixed and administered to 28 women and four men in the medicine ward of Bhabha hospital at 10 pm on Monday. While the four men did not suffer any reaction, all the women started reacting to the drugs half an hour after being injected. These drugs are known to be administered for treating various infections.

Vishaka Telawade (25), at present recuperating at KEM hospital, said, “I don’t know what drug they gave us. But all the patients in my ward complained of body pain. I had high fever, head ache, chest pain and cold due to the antibiotic.”

Another patient, Shehnaz Banu (38), complained of body pain and vomiting. Her son Najib Khan said, “My mother was admitted to Kurla Bhabha on Saturday for fever. She had started recovering but then this reaction worsened her condition.”

Sion hospital dean Dr Avinash Supe said all 13 patients admitted to the hospital were stable. “A few patients complained of skin irritation and giddiness. Now, everyone is stable. We still have failed to ascertain what went wrong with the drug. The same drug was given to male patients as well,  but they did not show any counter reaction,” Supe said.

Both the drugs were due to expire in 2016. Another corporator in Kurla,  Saida Khan, re-checked the injection on Tuesday. “I diluted the drugs to see their colour. Its colour, which was yellowish-orange, matched the description patients gave me. Something has been fishy because so many patients suffered the same reaction.”

The FDA is now in the process of investigating the composition of the drugs and the possible reasons for the allergic reactions.

tabassum.barnagarwala@expressindia.com