The Karnataka health department Saturday issued a directive to all government hospitals in the state to stop using a batch of ringer lactate solution in the light of a recent spurt in maternal deaths at the Ballari district hospital.
“The government has taken the death of new mothers seriously. A full probe is underway. Every life is precious… and… we have ordered a stop to the use of ringer lactate solution… A final decision will be taken after a laboratory analysis of samples is available,” Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said.
Thirty-four caesarean-section delivery cases were reported at the Ballari district hospital between November 9 and November 11 and out of these seven cases resulted in medical complications and four ended up in deaths.
An investigation by a technical team sent to the hospital on November 14 found no negligence and irresponsibility by the medical officers “but doubts have been expressed about some of the products used and a scientific report is awaited.”
The technical team expressed suspicion about the ringer lactate solution supplied by a West Bengal-based pharma firm and samples have been sent to the Central Drug Testing Laboratory for quality testing, the minister said.
Ringer lactate solution is an intravenous fluid used to rehydrate and restore fluid balance in patients.
“In the past when there were doubts about ringer lactate, an IV fluid, we have conducted tests and some samples were found to be defective and later they were sent to a lab for testing and it was reported that the fluid could be used,” Rao said.
“A technical committee was formed and the supplies that were cleared were allowed to be used. In the current batch, tests are being conducted to check quality… an anaerobic test… has been cleared and a second set of tests has to be done for a final clearance,” the Karnataka health minister added.