Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed the state lab found no problem with the Ringer’s lactate (RL) intravenous fluid, which had been alleged to have caused the death of a new mother at the Midnapore government hospital last month.
Addressing the Opposition’s charges and calls for her resignation as health minister in the aftermath of Mamoni Ruidas’s death on January 8, Mamata said: “The state drug control and research laboratory tested the Ringer’s lactate solution used at Midnapore Medical College. According to the test report, there was no problem with its quality. The solution administered at the hospital was of prescribed standards.”
She stressed strict protocols in maintaining the quality of medicines, making it impossible for anyone to “conspire” and introduce substandard drugs.
The controversy erupted after Mamoni gave birth to a healthy boy at Midnapore Medical College but suffered fatal complications allegedly after being administered with RL. Allegations surfaced that the RL made by a North Dinajpur firm, banned in Karnataka, had been used.
Three other women fell critically ill after being given the same RL and were transferred to the SSKM hospital in Calcutta on January 12.
On January 13, the health department acknowledged a lapse and promised strict action against those found responsible.
A 13-member team, formed by the state health directorate, held an inquiry, following which Mamata suspended 12 doctors on January 16, later increasing the count to 13.
Her Tuesday’s clean chit to the RL manufactured by Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals, a unit of Farista Vanijya Private Ltd at Chopra, North Dinajpur, reinforced the narrative that the fault lay with doctors, not the fluid.
However, the five-page investigation report given to Swasthya Bhavan indicated suspicions over the purity of the RL solution supplied by the Chopra-based company. The report did not rule out its role, along with oxytocin injection, in causing complications among puerperal mothers.
“She (Mamata) is desperately trying to deflect the attack on her government by blaming doctors and giving a clean chit to the RL solution that was banned after women died in Karnataka,” said a senior government doctor in Calcutta.
