Five infants fight for life after getting wrong injection

Five infants admitted to Delhi's Lok Nayak Hospital are battling for their lives after the residual of an antibiotic injection was administered to them. The high-end antibiotic — Meropenem — is used to treat a wide variety of bacterial infections, and should be used within 24 hours of the pack being opened.The crystalline powder is dissolved in saline water and injected. After the required dose has been administered, the remaining liquid is discarded. In this case, however, the residual liquid was probably given to these babies.If administered the wrong way, Meropenem may result in kidney failure, fluid retention in lungs, heart attack, liver failure, seizures, hallucination, weakness, fever, among other symptoms. Four of the affected infants were taken off the ventilator on Wednesday, but one is still critical.Ravi, one of the parents, said: "Our baby was fine till Friday. The hospital then gave her the injection on Saturday, and she has not been well since then. First she developed high fever and now she has trouble breathing."Senior doctors in the hospital have blamed the administration and nursing department for the negligence. Slamming the callous attitude of the hospital staffers, a senior doctor, requesting anonymity, said: "The residual liquid is supposed to be thrown away. But the practice of using it has been going on in the hospital for a long time. Some nursing orderlies use the drug even four to five days after the packet has been opened. As these infants were administered the residual, they have reacted to the injection.""Many doctors have already pointed out this problem but the nurses simply pass the buck to the administration. This is a system failure. How can they risk lives of people in this manner?" rued another senior doctor.Taking a note of the situation, the hospital administration has set up an inquiry committee. "We suspect that the leftover liquid might have been used in the case. We are not sure of anything as of now. We have set up an inquiry committee to get more details in the case and to ensure that such incident are not repeated in future," Medical Director Dr JC Passey said."The hospital follows all the standards laid down by the government and other higher authorities. This is a surprising case for us," he added.Located in central Delhi, Lok Nayak is one of the biggest government hospitals, which witnesses a footfall of nearly 2,000 patients every day.