Jodhpur police to quiz IV fluids firm over pregnancy deaths

JODHPUR - A Jodhpur police team is in Madhya Pradeshs Indore town to quiz the manufacturer of the IV fluids which are suspected to have caused the death of at least 12 pregnant women in a hospital here due to contamination, officials said Saturday.

The team led by a sub-inspector rank officer is likely to seek a search warrant from a local court in Indore against IV fluid manufacturer Parental Surgical India Pvt Ltd which had allegedly supplied the contaminated IV fluids.

We will seize the documents related to manufacturing of the particular batch of IV fluids which were administered to the deceased women, said a senior police officer.

In the meantime, an enquiry has been ordered into the tenders floated by Mahatma Gandhi Hospital (MGH) here for procurement of IV fluids for three government-run hospitals in the city.

It has come up that the name of Parental Surgical India Pvt Ltd was not in the list of 19 bid winners, but despite that it supplied the IV fluids to three hospitals including Umaid Hospital through Anshul Pharma, said a medical and health department officer.

The principal of Dr SN Medical College, Jodhpur, R.K. Ansari has asked Mahatma Gandhi Hospital to conduct the enquiry.

Over a period of 10 days, at least 12 pregnant women died of excessive bleeding at Umaid Hospital here after they were allegedly administered contaminated IV fluids of a particular batch manufactured by Parental Surgical India Pvt Ltd.

Hospital superintendent Narendra Changani had lodged a complaint with the police against the company and a local distributors firm Anshul Pharma after microbiological examination of IV fluids suggested presence of some bacteria. A medical team comprising a microbiologist and a gynaecologist from the Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur, that had been sent to Jodhpur for investigation Wednesday, has also handed over its report to the state government.

The condition of four women who were administered the IV fluids during childbirth is still critical. They are admitted in the intensive care units of Umaid Hospital and Mahatma Gandhi Hospital and are under observation.