Hospitals continue to put patients' lives at risk in Karnataka. Worm-infested IV fluids 'prescribed' for patients

No stern action seems to have an impact on the irresponsible hospitals in the state. They continue to play with the lives of patients. Take the case of a multi-speciality hospital in Doddaballapur where a patient was saved in the nick of time from being injected with worm-infested IV fluids.

Shantamma was admitted to hospital with high fever. The doctor who was treating her asked her family members to fetch an IV bottle from the hospital's medical stores. But Shantamma's relatives had a shock of their life when they found the IV fluids handed down by the medical stores dirty to say the least. There were worms crawling in the water and the water had turned yellow! Worse, there was neither batch number nor expiry date printed on the IV bottle. When the relatives questioned about it, the medical stores personnel behaved rude, reports Suvarna News.

Angered at this, Shantamma's relatives contacted the hospital authorities too but they feigned ignorance. They were not even aware of the stock that arrived at the medical stores, while it was their responsibility to verify the stock that arrive in their own medical stores. But the hospital's arrogant replies is suffice to prove their irresponsibility, complained Shantamma's relatives.

When they did not get a satisfactory answer from the hospital authorities, they contacted pro-Kannada organisations who staged a flash protest along with Shantamma's relatives in front of the hospital. They have also urged the government to take action against the hospital.

While Shantamma was saved in the nick of time, it is not known, whether other patients were already served with similar IV fluids!

• hospitals apathy