Health secy orders probe into use of expired glucostrips

The order for probe comes after a Newsline report Monday pointed out that GMCH-32 was testing diabetic patients with expired glucostrips that may lead to life-threatening complications.

GMCH-32 Director-Principal Raj Bahadur said he has asked for an explanation. “I have already asked the head of the department concerned for a detailed explanation of the matter,” he told Newsline.

The Department of Anaesthesia had purchased about 40,000 glucostrips around two years ago and the entire batch had expired in December 2010. However,instead of destroying the expired strips,the department was using it to check blood sugar level of patients,both pre-operative and infra-operative.

On an average,about 30-40 surgeries take place at GMCH-32 and about six-eight cases out of these are diabetics. The average consumption of glucostrips is about 3,000-4,000 per year.