Nurses spot ‘fungus’ in saline bottle, Mumbai civic body recalls entire batch

Nurses at Nair hospital spotted white particles at the bottom of a 100ml normal saline bottle before administering it to a patient

Municipal health officials recalled a batch of saline bottles from civic-run hospitals after doctors at BYL Nair Hospital allegedly reported fungus inside a bottle at the children’s ward on Tuesday.

While saline samples have been sent for laboratory analysis, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has recalled all the bottles from the specific batch that were distributed in its hospitals across Mumbai.

Nurses at Nair hospital spotted white particles at the bottom of a 100ml normal saline bottle before administering it to a patient. After the incident was reported to on-duty doctors, an alert was sent to hospital dean Dr Ramesh Bharmal.

“As per Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) protocol, we immediately reported the incident and alerted deans and medical superintendents of all the civic-run hospitals to withdraw saline bottles (from batch number 1807041002) from all the wards,” said Bharmal.

As a preventive measure, pharmacists were asked to keep aside saline bottles from this batch. Bharmal said the composition and nature of the matter can only be ascertained after chemical analysis. “Depending on the results, we will decide if action needs to be taken against the manufacturer,” he added.