Negligence deaths a nightmare for department

JAIPUR: The adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ guides the medical and health services in the state. But the recent incidents in which 17 pregnant woman died in Jodhpur and the death of 2 kids after administering measles vaccine in Nagaur say a different story.
Though following the Nagaur incident, health minister AA Khan had said that action would be taken against five officials including chief medical and health officer RK Meena, reproductive child health officer JP Mirdha, block chief health officer Ashok Singh Rajawat, medical officer Subhash Bhaskar and nurse Leelamma, the only scapegoat was the ANM who administered the contaminated vaccine.
Nagaur chief medical and health officer RK Meena, talking to TOI over phone said: “ANM Harish Meratiya had administered the contaminated vaccine. It is always told in trainings that any such vaccine should be used within 4 hours after its seal is broken. Yet he kept it for almost two weeks after opening the seal and administered it.”
“We have told the concerned ANMs and GNMs to ensure safety of the patients and always take care of the expiry element of a vaccine. Since Thursday is again our vaccination day, all the primary heath centres, sub-centres and hospitals have been directed to ensure safety measures while administering
the IV fluids, vaccines and even injections,” he added.
Asked on the negligence, a senior doctor who was part of the four-member team, said, “Usually a vaccine should be administered within four hours after its seal was opened. But he kept it opened for almost two weeks, thus it got contaminated. It is a serious lacuna.”
In the earlier incident of contaminated IV fluid in Jodhpur in which 17 pregnant woman were killed, the health department had suspended three doctors and an FIR was lodged at a police station in Jodhpur.
Various medical superintendents in government hospitals including Jaipur’s JK Lone hospital have been asked to monitor the vaccination on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the condition of the three kids who were undergoing treatment is stable but critical.
“One of the boy, Dharmendra, has developed a gangrene-kind of thing. We are consulting the pediatric surgeons to find if it needs to be operated or could be cured through medicines. Other two boys are critical yet stable,” said a senior pediatric surgeon.