Kota: The drug control department and local administration launched a comprehensive investigation into the quality of medications administered after two women died following complications from C-section deliveries at Kota’s New Medical College Hospital (NMCH).Inspection teams from the drug department conducted searches across the central drug store and attached hospital wards, focusing on a suspected broad-spectrum antibiotic injection known as meropenem. According to officials, they discovered two separate batches of meropenem manufactured by the same company, with, out of a total procurement of 7,847 units, 7,675 doses already administered to patients. With only 96 units remaining from the first batch of 4,291 and merely 76 units left from the second batch of 3,556, samples were dispatched for urgent laboratory testing.The scope of the inquiry widened following close consultations with the hospital’s medical superintendent and expert gynaecologists.Authorities expanded their efforts to include other important medications that had already been administered during patient treatment.On Monday, officials collected seven distinct drug samples for rigorous laboratory analysis, including ceftriaxone in 500 mg and 1 g dosages, tranexamic acid, sodium bicarbonate, cefoperazone-sulbactam, levetiracetam, pantoprazole, and oxytocin injections. These sampled medications primarily comprise critical broad-spectrum antibiotics, agents for acidity and peptic ulcers, haemorrhage control drugs, and essential labour pain management solutions.As the samples undergo testing to determine whether compromised quality or substandard manufacturing contributed to the tragedy, hospital administration and health authorities remain on high alert.Superintendent of NMCH, Dr Ashutosh Sharma, said legal and administrative actions would follow as soon as official laboratory reports are released. He noted that another patient, Anita, is currently stable and under close observation by the nephrology department, with no other casualties reported across the ward’s active patients.
