As per allegations, the woman, identified as Lili Jala of AN Guha Lane of Sambalpur town had entered the hospital late night on January 19 and administered injections to more than five patients at random.
Sources said the woman is mentally-retarded and prior to entering the hospital, had a quarrel with family members. Surprisingly, the woman entered into a ward of the hospital and finding no authorities present, she went ahead and administered injections to the patients. Later the woman disappeared from the hospital after one of the patients questioned her about the injections.
After the matter came to fore, hospital authorities suspended nurse Rajani Sahu, who was on the duty on January 19. Besides, the security guard deployed at the male ward of the hospital has also been suspended and a notice has been issued to the private agency providing security services at the hospital.
“I came to know that the woman (Lili) administered injections to some patients. We have already constituted an inquiry team and action will be taken after a probe,” said KK Gupta, CDMO of Sambalpur.
Meanwhile, Police have arrested the woman and forwarded her to court.
“After examining the CCTV footage, we arrested the woman, who was missing since the incident. A case has been registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the CDMO. She is a mentally retarded woman and had administered injections to some patients at the hospital. Preliminary investigation reveals that some of the injections were vitamins,” stated Bhawani Shankar Udgata, Sambalpur SDPO.
Reports said Santosh Kumar Parida of Itamati area had come to a private clinic in Nayagarh town for treatment this morning. After examining the patient, Dr LN Bisoyee administered him an injection. Soon after, Pradhan started vomiting and died in the clinic.
Tension ran high in the area following the death of Parida. However, police rushed to spot and pacified the locals. Police later sealed the clinic and began investigation into the incident.
Talking to media persons, the sister of the deceased said her brother had a boil, which could not be healed despite all treatment. “This morning, we had brought him to the clinic where Dr Bisoyee administered him an injection. Soon after being administered the injection, he became serious. My husband took my brother to the district headquarters hospital but on the way to the hospital he informed me that my brother is no more,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Santosh Kumar Bal, a resident of Nayagarh, told the media that as Parida was suffering from diabetes, the boil he had on his body was not healing. Today, the family members had brought him to the clinic where Dr Bisoyee gave him an injection. Soon after the injection, Parida had a bout of vomiting and died within minutes. “After his death, the doctor took the body of Parida in an ambulance van and dumped it in the district headquarters hospital. We demand that the police should probe into the matter to find out the exact cause of his death,” he added.
IIC of Naygarh Town Police Station, Narayan Barik said the police has sealed the clinic owned by Dr Anand Chandra Sarangi. “We have registered a case as per the complaint lodged by the brother of the deceased and started investigation,” he informed.
The study showed that pre-term babies whose mothers received antenatal corticosteroid therapy (ACT) on average weighed 220 grams less than infants who had not received treatment.
The weight difference was 141 grams for near term babies and 89 grams for full-term babies.
In addition, babies who received ACT but delivered at term were also smaller in size when matched against babies born at term without the treatment.
"We have known from animal studies that steroid treatment could affect foetal growth. It is still unclear whether the reduction in birth weight of the treated infants is directly caused by the drug or due to the complications that led to the treatment," said Professor Alina Rodriguez from the University of Lincoln.
"This study adds weight to calls for a review of the current guidelines for management of threatened pre-term birth and for who should receive steroid treatment," Rodriguez added.
For the study, the team used data from 2,78,508 births to see if the link between reduced birth weight and size was related to the steroid treatment or to other factors.
The findings, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, showed that more than four per cent of children were born pre-term (before 37 weeks).
A total of 4,887 women were given ACT, and 2,173 exposed babies were born at term (37 weeks).
The fact that this treatment may reduce the foetal growth should be considered in future research and recommendations, suggested Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Professor from the varsity.
Worldwide, about 1.5 million babies are born premature annually.
Complications resulting from premature birth, especially those related to breathing problems, are the leading cause of death in infants and morbidity in survivors. Therefore, ACT is used before birth to help mature the lungs rapidly.