The PILs filed with the Chief Justice’s division bench questioned the alleged use of Ringer’s lactate solution in West Bengal hospitals while it has been already been banned by the Karnataka government in March 2024. The petitioners also alleged that the solution is still being used in RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
One of the PILs has been filed by Bijoy Singhal and the other by BJP leader and advocate Kaustav Bagchi.
On Friday last week, a woman died while three others are in critical condition after they delivered babies. All of them were allegedly given a solution of questionable quality at the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. The deceased has been identified as Mamoni Das. The three new mothers, whose conditions are critical, have been shifted to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata on Sunday night.
BJP leader Kaustav Bagchi and Dr Biswapati Mukherjee have demanded a CBI investigation against the solution-providing company and those involved in the “crime” on the part of the state government. They have also demanded an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to trace if there are links with bogus companies.
BJP leader and advocate Kaustav Bagchi told The Indian Express, “The state government is playing with the innocent lives of the people of West Bengal. This is not a new incident… in the past, many have had kidney disorders.”
Paschim Banga Pharmaceuticals had come under the scanner following maternal deaths at a hospital in Ballari, Karnataka, last year. A committee set up by the Karnataka government, with experts from the state’s Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, said the Ringer lactate IV fluid supplied by the Chopra-based company was substandard, with 22 batches failing sterility, endotoxin, and particulate-matter tests. This led the Karnataka government to blacklist the Bengal-based IV fluid manufacturer.
On December 10, Bengal drug authorities pasted a notice on the gate of the Chopra factory, saying the facility had been asked to stop manufacturing drugs till further orders.