COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s National Medicine Regulatory Authority said that the Indian-manufactured anaesthetic Bupivacaine will no longer be used in the country.
The NMRA said that this decision was taken following the reports of two deaths that took place after the Indian-manufactured anaesthetic Bupivacaine was administered.
A. G. Karunawathie, the principal of the Maussawa Primary School in Kandy was subject to a hernia surgery on the 31st of March.
She was admitted to the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital on the 30th of March.
She underwent the surgery, hoping that she would be discharged two days later, however, she was later admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital.
A. G. Karunawathie passed away on the 15th of June, while being treated at the ICU of the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital.
The Director of the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital Dr. Arjuna Thilakaratne media 1st that after the anaesthetic was administered to A. G. Karunawathie she continued to receive treatment in the ICU of the hospital.
He confirmed that a woman who underwent a Caesarean section delivery also died two after being administered with the same anaesthetic.
The Association of Health Professionals revealed that the anaesthetic was imported to Sri Lanka with NMRA approval.
The Society of Government Pharmacists said the medicine in question was imported to Sri Lanka by using a legal provision that was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, several patients who underwent eye surgery at the National Eye Hospital and Nuwara Eliya General Hospital experienced complications after they were given the Indian-made Prednisolone eye drops.The Health Ministry appointed a special committee to probe the reports of several patients dying after using the medicines, while others developed complications.
The National Medicine Regulatory Authority on Monday (19) announced that the anaesthetic that was used at the Peradeniya Teching Hospital, where two patients died, was removed and will no longer be in use.—Agencies
