By Nirmala Kannangara
The effectiveness of medicines, including chemotherapy drugs, stored in the cold room at the Cancer hospital in Maharagama have been drastically affected due to a breakdown in the cooling machines.
Cancer Institute sources told The Sunday Leader on condition of anonymity that although the cooling machines in the cold room have been malfunctioning over the past one and a half months nothing has been done to rectify the situation.
“Abans came and fixed a machine but then it packed up and once again we are facing the same issue. Although the room temperature has to be below 25C, today’s temperature (Thursday April 5) in the cold room is a little above 37C,” said the sources.
The sources added that due to the drop of temperature over the past one and a half months, the effectiveness of the chemotherapy drug Carboplatinum has come down, leaving most of the patients facing adverse reactions to the drug.
According to him, patients who receive chemotherapy round three and four have shown an adverse reaction after being administered the drug.
“Severe shivering, drop of blood pressure, rashes and profuse sweating are the symptoms and quick medical attention has to be given to the patients,” sources added.
Sources further added that the hospital authority however does not take the situation seriously.
“When the Director Cancer Institute was informed we were told that the reactions cannot be due to the drop of temperature but could be another reason. If so the cause of adverse reaction either could be that the drugs provided by the Health Ministry Medical Stores are of poor quality.
We wanted Director Dr. Kanishka Karunaratne to attend to this immediately to prevent a disaster,” sources claimed.
When contacted, Senior Consultant Oncologist Cancer Hospital Maharagama Dr. Mahendra Perera confirmed to The Sunday Leader that four out-door patients in his clinic fell sick on Thursday. “They developed reactions while receiving the treatment which is unusual. This has been happening for the past few weeks,” Dr. Perera said.
However Dr. Kanishka Karunaratne refuted the allegations and said there is no issue at the hospital cold room and that he was not aware that patients have developed reactions to the chemotherapy drug – Carboplatinum.
“The issue is at the hospital pharmacy. The air conditioner in the pharmacy has been out of order for the past few weeks and we got Abans to install a new AC. But that too packed up and we had to get another AC immediately. Other than that there is no issue and you have been misled by your sources,” Dr. Karunaratne said.
Source: http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2012/04/08/drug-storage-at-cancer-hospital-at-risk/
The effectiveness of medicines, including chemotherapy drugs, stored in the cold room at the Cancer hospital in Maharagama have been drastically affected due to a breakdown in the cooling machines.
Cancer Institute sources told The Sunday Leader on condition of anonymity that although the cooling machines in the cold room have been malfunctioning over the past one and a half months nothing has been done to rectify the situation.
“Abans came and fixed a machine but then it packed up and once again we are facing the same issue. Although the room temperature has to be below 25C, today’s temperature (Thursday April 5) in the cold room is a little above 37C,” said the sources.
The sources added that due to the drop of temperature over the past one and a half months, the effectiveness of the chemotherapy drug Carboplatinum has come down, leaving most of the patients facing adverse reactions to the drug.
According to him, patients who receive chemotherapy round three and four have shown an adverse reaction after being administered the drug.
“Severe shivering, drop of blood pressure, rashes and profuse sweating are the symptoms and quick medical attention has to be given to the patients,” sources added.
Sources further added that the hospital authority however does not take the situation seriously.
“When the Director Cancer Institute was informed we were told that the reactions cannot be due to the drop of temperature but could be another reason. If so the cause of adverse reaction either could be that the drugs provided by the Health Ministry Medical Stores are of poor quality.
We wanted Director Dr. Kanishka Karunaratne to attend to this immediately to prevent a disaster,” sources claimed.
When contacted, Senior Consultant Oncologist Cancer Hospital Maharagama Dr. Mahendra Perera confirmed to The Sunday Leader that four out-door patients in his clinic fell sick on Thursday. “They developed reactions while receiving the treatment which is unusual. This has been happening for the past few weeks,” Dr. Perera said.
However Dr. Kanishka Karunaratne refuted the allegations and said there is no issue at the hospital cold room and that he was not aware that patients have developed reactions to the chemotherapy drug – Carboplatinum.
“The issue is at the hospital pharmacy. The air conditioner in the pharmacy has been out of order for the past few weeks and we got Abans to install a new AC. But that too packed up and we had to get another AC immediately. Other than that there is no issue and you have been misled by your sources,” Dr. Karunaratne said.
Source: http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2012/04/08/drug-storage-at-cancer-hospital-at-risk/
