KARACHI, July 15 The Pakistan Society of Anaesthesiologists has expressed concern over the administration of wrong injections to patients, urging the government to ensure that all injections are administered under the supervision of qualified doctors.

The demand was made at a joint press conference addressed by Prof S. Tipu Sultan, Dr Zia Akhtar and Dr Safia Zafar Siddiqui, the office-bearers of the anaesthesiologists' association, at the PMA House on Wednesday.

They expressed concern over a recently published news report that a 20-year-old student of an engineering university was fighting for his life at a private hospital after a nurse administered him a wrong injection. However, they said this was not the first incident of its kind; as many such incidents had occurred in public and private hospitals in the past. But, unfortunately most of the cases were never reported, they added.

Explaining what actually happens in such cases, they said illegible handwriting of doctors, who prescribe injection transamin to control bleeding, is sometimes misunderstood as injection tracrium by pharmacists. The latter is used by the anaesthetist to paralyse all muscles of the body during surgery. Nurses mostly fail to cross-check the name of injection before administering it in the absence of doctors. The wrong injection ultimately results into the patient's death.

The anaesthesiologists said, “There is absolutely no other use of this drug anywhere else and no other person except a trained and qualified anaesthetist is eligible to use this drug.”

They said in the university student's case the drug used in place of transamin was acuron, which was exactly the same drug as tracrium with a different brand name.

They said there were so many other cases in which the drugs prepared by different pharmaceutical companies were so similar to each other in there packing and colour of their ampoules that it was difficult for a person with an ordinary qualification to recognise and appreciate the difference.

The Pakistan Society of Anaesthesiologists was greatly concerned with the situation, they said, and suggested some appropriate measures to stop this unnecessary loss of life.

They said no nurse in any case be allowed to inject any injection to the patient in the absence of a doctor. “It should be the moral and legal responsibility of the doctor on the duty to give all injectable drugs to patient under their own supervision.”

They suggested that manufacturers and packagers of drugs must mark the drugs, having no ordinary use, in a way that anyone could recognise them. For example, they should label it as “For O.T. Use Only” and adopt a specific colour coding. It would certainly minimise the risk of administering wrong injections.

They further suggested that doctors should be careful while prescribing injection transamin, but if at all it was necessary to prescribe this injection then there should be clear instructions like “to be injected by the doctor on the duty” along with the prescription.—PPI