Avoiding misuse of empty Amphotericin vials
The Hindu
Govt. hospitals are removing labels from vials of the anti-fungal drug or destroying them altogether post use
In view of possible misuse of empty Liposomal Amphotericin-B injection vials, government hospitals in the State are peeling off the labels from the containers or destroying them after use. A similar strategy had been followed by hospitals before discarding vials of Remdesivir, considered a key drug in COVID-19 treatment, to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Earlier, the medicines vials were discarded as part of biomedical waste with the labels intact. Hospitals began to peel off labels from Remdesivir following reports of fraudsters filling saline or distilled water in the empty vials and selling them to desperate attendants of COVID-19 patients. Mucormyocsis patients are admitted at Government ENT Hospital and Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital. And patients with fungal infection who are COVID-positive are admitted to Gandhi Hospital. A few government medical colleges in other districts are also treating patients with the fungal infection.Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.