Saroj Shukla, 64, of Malad was given a sedative and a medicine meant for cold — a combination of drugs that could prove devastating if consumed together and in excess quantity — when he approached Malad's Relief Medical and General Stores. The same evening, Shukla took three tablets of the sedative and four tablets of the cold medicine. The family realized something was wrong only next morning when the retired army officer did not wake up in the usual hour.
"What worsened his condition was a fall in the bathroom under the influence of those drugs that night. He had hurt his spinal cord and had to be rushed to a private nursing home. Till date, he has been to three hospitals and has been advised surgery now," said Shukla's daughter Kalpana.
Her father did not know the consequences of consuming the drugs together and in that much quantity and "he should not have been given those drugs over the counter", she added.
Shukla is now admitted to BYL Nair Hospital in Mumbai Central. The family has so far coughed up nearly a lakh for his treatment.
The Food and Drug Administration said it was a serious violation of the Drug and Cosmetics Act. "We did not just want to suspend or cancel their licence. So we got them arrested," said SS Kale, joint commissioner, drugs, FDA.
Kalpana said it was a close brush for his father, who is a cardiac patient and has had diabetes for 20 years.
Kale said the main violation was dispensing a sedative without a prescription and in the absence of a pharmacist. "A pharmacist could have understood the repercussions of giving these drugs together," he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment