Photos, allegedly of injection vials at the Gandhi Hospital have emerged, claiming to show that the medication had expired in 2016. The photos were reportedly taken by parents at the hospital, but TNM was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the pictures.
Several children have reportedly fallen ill after the incident. While the number of children that fell sick is unclear, all of them continue to receive treatment at the hospital.
The parent of one of the children told ABN, “My boy was fine when they gave him an injection in the morning. In the evening, they gave another one. Around 5-10 minutes after he was given the injection, his hands and legs began twisting and his eyes rolled up. I immediately rushed to the nurse, who asked me to take him to the doctor. After he gave some treatment, my child got slightly better. But he still had fever last night and is still sick.”
Speaking to TNews, a senior official from the hospital said, “Usually, we administer antibiotics to children to treat infections. We only prescribe the antibiotics that are supplied by the government, and that we have in stock. We also give it according to the right schedule and the correct dosage.”
“However, as a reaction to an antibiotic, some children fell ill yesterday. It lasted just for five minutes. We treated them immediately and advised everyone involved to stop taking that particular drug. There were no complications to any children. They are showing videos and photos of expired drugs. We don’t have any expired drugs in our stock. We immediately dispose expired drugs,” he added.
He also alleged that ‘outsiders’ had brought the vials inside the hospital, as there was no government stamp on the bottle.
An internal inquiry has been initiated.#Hyderabad #GandhiHospital in news for all wrong reasons. This time parents allege kids administered expired vaccines. Around 10 kids ill. pic.twitter.com/lTTlgjF8R1
— Paul C Oommen (@Paul_Oommen) March 26, 2017
Yet again #Telangana biggest Gandhi Govt Hospital Staff showed negligence,injected expired vaccines to kids. Several critical #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/PhgAsZK3vg
— Aashish (@Ashi_IndiaToday) March 26, 2017
Just last week, the hospital was in the news after an injured patient was seen using a toy tricycle to move around after he was denied a wheelchair, allegedly because he could not pay bribes.
The patient, S Raju, a resident of Begumpet, had reportedly suffered burn injuries after sustaining an electric shock in August last year and went to the hospital for a follow-up.
Raju’s wife, Santoshi, alleged that ward-boys had been demanding Rs 100 for providing wheelchair, but she did not have money to pay the bribe.
“I lost my job due to the accident, I am not able to buy essential commodities for my family or myself. How can I pay Rs 100 every time for the wheelchair? I got my son’s tricycle for moving within the hospital,” Raju told TOI.
In December last year, a young girl’s father had alleged that he found an ‘insect’ in a saline bottle that was given to her.
The girl was suffering from a rare neurological disorder called neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis and was on antibiotics and oxygen support.
According to doctors, the girl was being treated for recurrent infection and bouts of pneumonia.
The girl’s father alleged that her condition started deteriorating after being administered the ‘contaminated’ saline. She died 62 days after the incident.
