7th death linked to antibiotic injection
As another death was linked to a hazardous antibiotic injection, local health
authorities were yesterday ordered to start compiling daily reports on people
experiencing adverse reactions to the drug.
Jing Shufang, 76, died after being injected with four bottles of clindamycin
phosphate glucose. Her death brings the drug's potential death toll to seven.
The elderly woman, from Wuchang County in Harbin, capital of Northeast
China's Heilongjiang Province, became short of breath and began vomiting as she
was injected with the fourth bottle, on July 23, reported Harbin-based newspaper
Life Daily. She died later the same day.
Jing was given clindamycin phosphate glucose to treat a wound which became
infected after she underwent stomach surgery. It was the only medicine she was
receiving.
News of her death came on the same day the Health Ministry issued a statement
ordering local health departments to start making daily reports on deaths and
adverse reactions to the drug, which was banned nationwide on August 4.
Starting from today, provincial health departments will have to report the
progress of their investigations and recalls of the clindamycin phosphate
glucose injection, produced by the Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co.
The daily reporting system was last used as China battled the severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) which swept the country in 2003.
So far seven deaths have been linked to clindamycin phosphate glucose.
Jing is the second potential victim reported in Harbin, following the death
of a six-year-old girl on July 27.
The other five deaths were in Hebei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Hubei and Sichuan
provinces.
The slow disclosure of deaths linked to the injection with some only being
revealed more than a fortnight after the victims passed away has been attributed
to reporting delays at local medical organizations.
"Medical organizations of all levels should report to senior health
authorities as soon as possible after a case of adverse reaction to the drug,"
said the ministry's statement.
The ministry also ordered local departments to speed up their drive to bring
the injection out of circulation, to avoid any new deaths.
"Local medical administrative organizations and their staff will be punished
if new cases occur because of their failure to bring the injection out of
circulation," said the statement.
The Anhui company has sold 3.18 million units of the injection to 26
provinces, regions and municipalities.
Recall work continued yesterday as health authorities said it would take some
time before their investigations into the drug reached a conclusion.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the 11 deaths in May and June caused by a notorious
bogus drug produced by the Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Company, the State
Council yesterday approved a plan for nationwide regulation of the medical
market.
The new controls will come into force in a year's time.
