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Life-saving drug out of stock for 3 months at Bathinda hospital
Mannitol, a life-saving drug for head-injury patients, is out of stock at the civil hospital in Bathinda for the past three months.
Mannitol, a life-saving drug for head-injury patients, is out of stock at the civil hospital in Bathinda for the past three months.
The hospital receives seven to 10 cases of head injury a day. Doctors say they have raised the drug requirement, while the hospital authorities claim to be unaware.
“The exhausted stocks of critical drugs are replenished from the hospital fund but in this case, no one has cared for three months,” a doctor in the emergency ward said on the condition of anonymity.
At the hospital, there is no charge for the medicine.
“But now we have to tell the attendants to get it from outside. In emergency, and where the patient has no attendant, how do we save a life?” the doctor said.
“I don’t know about the situation,” said senior medical officer Harbhajan Ram. “I’ll need until Monday to give a reply.”
Civil surgeon Raghbir Singh Randhawa said only the SMO was authorised to comment. Intravenous drug Mannitol controls skull pressure, brain metabolism, and blood flow to the head.