Chandigarh: 85 pc of Propofol samples clear tests, all done in Himachal Pradesh

Chandigarh: Three out of 21 samples of Propofol, an anaesthesia injection, that is suspected to have caused five deaths at PGI in August have been found contaminated. All the tests were conducted in different laboratories.

Sources said drug controller authorities in Himachal Pradesh had taken 18 samples of the sedative from the suspected batch, the previous and later ones, and found nothing substandard. One sample was collected by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), Chandigarh, from the PGI, while two samples were collected by the PGI from the suspected batch and sent for in-house testing and one was sent by the hospital to pharmacology department in Panjab University.

The reports from the three organisations found the drug failing in sterility and to be toxic. Recently, Nixi Laboratories, the manufacturer of the drug, had gone to the court and challenged the CDSCO’s report. Samples were then sent to the Central Drugs Laboratory, Kolkata, the apex body, for another test. “We also took the suspected batch from the PGI and compared it with the control sample -- which is kept with the firm. It was found to fail in contents, which cannot cause any damage to patients,” said an official in the drug control department in Baddi.

Officials in the HP department said they have not received a report from PGI establishing the drug as the cause of the deaths. “If we get such a report from PGI, we will lodge an FIR and take action under a law, where the penalty is imprisonment for a term not less than 10 years and extended to life imprisonment,” said a senior official in HP department.