Premautee Ramphul’s family is still in shock. If a nephew hadn’t noticed that his aunt’s medicines were different, his eyes could have been damaged forever. Instead of eye drops, in the hospital pharmacy, she was given medicines to treat cancer.
It was medical negligence that could have had serious consequences for Premautee Ramphul, 65, said her granddaughter, Ashny Gunputh. The latter she claims she has not understood until now how her aunt was given an injection used in the treatment of cancer instead of eye drops. The incident took place on Sunday 18 September at the Mahébourg hospital. “Is there a problem with the labels? Do pharmacy workers not know which drugs to give to patients? asks the young woman.
His aunt, he says, has vision problems. “A few years ago she underwent cataract surgery. Despite everything, she continues to suffer from eyestrain. If you do not follow your treatment correctly, you will cause bleeding in your eyes. To avoid this, she regularly goes to her appointments for her at the Moka hospital. Also, every two weeks, you have to go to collect the drops from the hospital in Mahébourg, ”she explains. “My aunt lives with her older sister, a 70-year-old who also has health problems. Due to her vision problems, she is a cousin who is going to get her medicine at the hospital. On Sunday, September 18, she picked them up around 2:30 pm, then she gave them to our aunt, “Ashny Gunputh says.
Different drops
However, the next day, he informs his cousin that the eye drops were different from the previous ones. “I then told him I was about to inquire, but taken from work and a prayer session, I had to wait until Wednesday to go to my aunt’s house. The latter, who could not put the drops in her eyes, went to a local pharmacy where she was informed that it was actually an injection. She called me to inform me of the situation ”, adds our interlocutor.
Once at her aunt’s house, she carefully examined the medicine’s label, which said “Eye Drops” with instructions stating that one drop should be put in the eye every night. “I took the medicine and went to the hospital. When I showed it to a pharmacy attendant, she called her two colleagues. One of them panicked when he saw the medicine. He wanted to know how I had taken it. He wanted to have him back with me, but I told him he couldn’t do it and that there were cameras, ”Ashny Gunputh says. The latter had the presence of mind to check on the Internet. “And that’s when I saw, to my amazement, that it was a cancer injection prescribed only by a doctor. My aunt would surely have lost her sight completely if she had used it, ”she says indignantly.
On the same day he wanted to lodge a complaint with the superintendent of the Mahébourg hospital. “They refused to register my complaint and I had to raise my voice. They tried to tell me that whoever gave the medicine had a family to support. However, I disagree. We go to the hospital to receive treatment and not to endanger our life. Finally, the superintendent said that this kind of mistake would not be tolerated and registered my complaint for medical malpractice, ”he continues.
After this incident, Ashny Gunputh gets the impression that this kind of case is recurring and that more often than not the responsible agents try to hide the mistakes. “I told them I didn’t understand how such a mistake could have been made. So, I pointed out that such incidents do not happen in private clinics, and the employees replied that their services are paid for. But even in the hospital they have a salary, they don’t work for free ”, she points out. A few days later, she went to the hospital to get more medicine for her aunt and was informed that the guilty nurse had been transferred. “This is not about transferring him. This mistake must not be repeated and the sanctions must be taken,” she hopes.
One thing is certain, Ashny Gunputh has no intention of letting go. Over the course of the week, she plans to go to the Health and Safety Department of the Ministry of Health to file a complaint. We tried to get the ministry version, but our attempts were unsuccessful.
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