ISLAMABAD, July 27: A 17-year-old boy, who had been in coma for the last four months after being administered a wrong medicine, died at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) at 4pm on Saturday, a source in the hospital told Dawn.

Mr Javaid, a resident of Haripur, had developed drug-induced unconsciousness with complete skeletal muscle paralysis, leading to Cardio-pulmonary arrest, after a wrong medicine was administered to him intravenously.

According to the hospital record, a general medicine doctor had prescribed Injection “Transamin” — fresh frozen plasma — on March 26, when the patient was brought to the hospital. However, the staff of Pharmax drug store, situated within the hospital premises, allegedly misunderstood the prescription and handed over Injection Tracurim — a strong anaesthetic agent — to the patient’s attendant.

An inquiry ordered by the hospital executive director concluded that the incident occurred due to the absence of a graduate pharmacist as supervisor on the day, which was violative of the contract signed between the hospital and the drug store management.

On the other hand, the staff nurse, without looking at the drug or checking the case file, administered the medicine, putting the patient’s life into jeopardy.

“The hospital management was negligent from the day one as it even dared to flout court’s order by not providing proper treatment to the patient,” Nadir Altaf advocate, a representative of The Network for Consumer Protection, said.

On behalf of the patient’s parents, Mr Altaf had filed a petition against the Pims administration before the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench. Justice Bashir Mujahid of the LHC had directed the hospital to hold an inquiry into the incident, appoint a specialist for the treatment and bear the expenses, instead of shifting the entire burden to the patient.