The 17-year-old girl, who had become critical allegedly after taking date-expired medicines for tuberculosis (TB), died on Sunday while undergoing treatment at the SCB Medical College Hospital here. A native of the city’s Rajabagicha area, Gudi Nayak was suffering from chronic category-II tuberculosis. She was initially undergoing treatment at the City Hospital here, where she was prescribed the medicines four months ago. When her condition did not improve, she consulted a private clinic earlier this month where another doctor found that she was taking medicines that have expired since September 2017. The Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) immediately ordered a probe into it. In a critical condition, she was referred to the SCB Hospital a fortnight ago and she died on Sunday while undergoing treatment in the TB ward of the hospital. When contacted, CDMO BK Patnaik said the preliminary round of investigations revealed that the patient was initially a defaulter of taking the whole course of the medicines.
“She was suffering from chronic recurrent disease of category-II TB and her heart and liver were also damaged,” Dr Patnaik said, adding that they are yet to receive a report from the SCB Hospital about the cause of her death.