Tuticorin doctor in the dock for overtreating fever in child

CHENNAI: As part of the fever audits done by the state health department, in line with the maternal death audits, the directorate of public health has filed a complaint with the state medical council against a Tuticorin-based doctor for not following “fever treatment protocol”. The complaint says “the treatment is not in line with the standard protocol” and that “it endangers lives of patients”.

Director of public health Dr K Kolandaswamy filed a complaint against Dr Selvakumari of Selva Nursing Home in Sawyerpuram. The complaint was based on an inspection report of deputy director of health services Dr Geetha Rani. She found a nine-year-old patient (name withheld) was admitted to the hospital and administered ceftriaxone (antibiotic) as an intramuscular injection. The patient was also prescribed paracetamol three times a day, cough syrup and “T Stcrof”.

Dr Selvakumari was not available for comment.

“Even in medical school, we tell students not to give injections for treatment of viral fevers. It leads to complications such as bleeding and shock,” said Dr Kolandaswamy. “We found another patient treated by her using a similar treatment. The patient’s deposition has also been attached with the complaint,” he said.

Tamil Nadu Medical Council president Dr K Senthil said he has received a copy of the complaint. “We will be asking her to email an explanation and present herself before a disciplinary committee on October 31,” he said. “Negligence or ignorance by doctors can cause serious complications including death. We want to ensure doctors who treat simple fevers are cautious,” he said.

While it’s not known whether the patient had dengue or not, the state has so far recorded more than five dengue deaths and at least 3,900 cases of dengue has been notified to the health authorities.Two more cases of suspected dengue deaths were being audited.

On Tuesday, health minister C Vijaya Baskar said senior health officials under the directorate of public health were auditing all fever cases. “Despite repeated advisory and medical education programmes, many doctors give medicines such as intramuscular injections that lead to internal bleeding and haemorrhagic shock. We will be initiating action against all such doctors,” he said.

Health officials and senior doctors have been asked to report drug stores giving away over-the-counter drugs for fever treatment and quacks, who prescribe drugs or administer injections to patients with fever.