At least 17 children admitted to Unakoti District Hospital fell ill soon after they were administered an antibiotic injection on Wednesday.
The situation soon became chaotic and panicked guardians were in a helpless situation as no Paediatric specialists were available in the hospital at that time.
According to sources, five children were referred to GB Hospital while other sick children were reportedly taken to Assam based Hospital by their guardians.
Some children were admitted to the hospital around two days ago with stomachaches and other problems. In absence of Paediatric specialists, an on-duty Ophthalmologist prescribed Ceftriaxone Injection IP for 17 children – accordingly, the injections were pushed. Soon after, the children became ill.
Parents accused the hospital authority of their negligence and alleged that the injection was pushed without conducting a skin test to check as to whether the patients suffered any side effects.
The irked guardians also vented anger over the lack of child specialists in the hospital.
“The situation could have been averted if there was a Paediatrician present in the hospital. As the child specialist is on leave, an on-duty Ophthalmologist went to attend the children and prescribed Ceftriaxone Injection IP. As the situation took a turn for worse and children fell ill, the Ophthalmologist left the spot without any further trace.
One of the doctors of the hospital, Dr Nirmal Debbarma, when asked about the incident, confirmed the incident and said that the injections were given from the Hospital received as part of a government-supplied medicine consignment.
He, however, claimed skin tests were conducted prior to administering the injection.
Dr Debbarma also agreed that there was no improvement in the health condition of the children even after required medicines were provided.
The parents of the sick children on Wednesday demanded the authority of the Unakoti district hospital to compensate them with the expenses required for further treatment of their children in other hospitals.
Reacting to the incident, the Chief Medical Officer of the Unakoti District J B Darlong informed that he had directed the District Drug Controller Officer to collect the samples of the injection which were administered to the children and send the samples to Agartala for examination.
