Mr Nalin A Madiwaka, coroner at Gampola Hospital, has reported that a seven-year-old child with fever died from an overdose of paracetamol. This was after he conducted an autopsy and the information was released to the media.
Shamali Tarushi of Rankotpedi, a resident of Tamaravalli Colony, Uduhenthenna, Uduwella, died while receiving fever treatment.
She was a second year student at Uduwella Junior College.
Her parents had brought medicine to her twice from Gampola Kurunduwatta Hospital. It has been revealed that the girl got this overdose because Instead of doctor’s prescription dosage the hospital pharmacist has release an adult dose to the child.
It is said that about six hundred patients come for treatment from Kurunduwatta hospital every day and only one pharmacist is available to give them medicine. Also, the hospital does not have the necessary wrappers or covers to put the pills and the medicines are given in old light bills or paper.
Due to the large number of patients, many medicines such as paracetamol are prepared in advance wrapped in papers and given to the patients by noting down how to take the medicine.
Although the doses required for adults were written in this way, when the children came, the same dose was written on the back side of the paper.
In this way, this seven-year-old child has also been given medicine and the parents have given this child the adult dose that was written inside the leaf.
In this way, although the child was given medicine for fever, he developed a stomach ache and the parents brought the child back to Gampola Hospital on the 22nd because he was in a very critical condition.
Although the doctors had taken steps to refer the child to the intensive care unit, there were no beds available in Gampola, Peradeniya, Nawalapitiya or Kandy hospitals, so arrangements were made to take the child to Ragama Hospital.
In the meantime, the child was anaesthetized with the father’s consent due to the child’s struggle and the child died at the Gampola hospital at around 7.30 that night.
Accordingly, the child’s body was taken to the Kandy General Hospital on the 23rd for post-mortem, where it was revealed that the child had died due to serious damage to the liver.
There, expert forensic medical officer C.U. Wickramasinghe had sent the body parts of the deceased girl to a laboratory for further investigation.
Gampola Hospital Coroner Nalin A. Madiwaa carried an autopsy at Madiwaka Gampola Hospital, where Eranga Samira Karunaratne (32), the father of the deceased girl, and Jayasinghe Mallika Rajapakse, the mother, gave evidence under the direction of Kurunduwatta Police Constable Thenuwara (73444).
Here, the coroner stated that the cause of death was an overdose of Panadol for fever, damage to the liver and death while being sedated in the hospital.