The echoes of the deaths of two girls after taking a dose of medicine in an Alexandria pharmacy continue to cast a shadow in Egypt after the investigative authorities’ decision to jail the pharmacist, owner of the pharmacy where the two girls took the injections. , as well as pharmacists.
The Union of Pharmacists of Alexandria announced that the doctor who wrote the medicine for the two girls did not write an allergy test while taking the medicine in the “prescription” of the medicine.
The Syndicate added in a statement: “After following the prosecution’s investigation and investigators’ investigations, which included doctor’s prescriptions, syringe dispensers and surveillance cameras in the pharmacy, it was found that the two syringes were were dispensed according to the prescribing physician and according to the dose indicated in the prescription, and the antibiotic required for the first child was dispensed as prescribed by the attending physician, which is an order attached to syringe dispensers and pharmacy cameras.
She explained: “The same owner of the pharmacy explained to the mother of the two girls that the syringe needed for the second child was not available and that there was an analogue with the same active ingredient, so the mother of the two girls went to look for her outside and then went back to the pharmacy and asked the pharmacist to give the injection, knowing that there was no allergy test written on the prescription and that it was not on the inside package leaflet. a worker – a nursing degree – and has enough experience to give the injection. “
Dr Mohamed Onsi, head of the Alexandria Pharmacists Union, told the Al-Hurra website that “there are international standards governing the process of administering antibiotics as medicines, and I have hundreds of prescriptions where doctors write a sensitivity tests for certain types of antibiotics, and the mother of the two girls told the pharmacist and her staff that she conducted an allergy test for the two girls when they took the first dose of the drug before going to the pharmacy where they took the second dose “.
On the responsibility of the attending physician not to write an allergy test in the prescription, as recalled by the Union of Pharmacists in its statement, Onsi stated: “I do not place accusations or responsibilities on anyone because there are investigations conducted by the Prosecutor and it will determine the responsibilities, but we mentioned this matter in the Union statement as abstract proven information through the incident and investigation, having followed all the procedures, decisions and events from the deaths of the two girls so far.
She added: “The death of the two girls together at the same time after taking a dose of the drug with the same active ingredient, even if the brand of the drug is different, is worth stopping and investigations are underway now, especially with the mother of the two girls who admitted she had an allergy test when they took the first dose. “
The investigative authorities have decided to renew the detention of the pharmacist, owner of the pharmacy where the two girls took the medicine, and of the staff who work with her in the pharmacy, for 15 days, pending investigations.
The prosecutor in Egypt announced several measures it had taken as part of its investigation into the incident, including the seizure and inspection of the pharmacy that witnessed the incident and the assignment of a specialized committee to review its licenses. and examine his medications.
She claims that the pharmacist’s allegations are that the workers who work with her in the pharmacy can practice the profession of pharmacy without a license, and that the workers are accused of practicing the professions of pharmacy without a license, as well as accusing one of the workers of administering to the two girls a drug that caused their death.
Mahmoud Al-Najjar, the uncle of the two girls, Iman and Sajida, told Al-Hurra: “The two girls experienced side effects and complications as soon as they took the two injections of medicine at the pharmacy. You must go to the hospital immediately. ‘hospital, and there the doctors tried for five hours, from eleven in the evening to five in the morning, to save the two girls, but were unable to do so due to the serious complications that struck the two girls ”.
The captain of the Pharmacists of Alexandria, in his interview with Al-Hurra, asked the competent authorities represented by the Ministry of Health and the Medicines Authority “to issue a decision to stop hitting syringes in public pharmacies or to legalize it with specific and clear measures in order to preserve patients and pharmacists because pharmacies are under great pressure regarding the request of citizens to give injections in pharmacies ”.
Dr Ahmed Hussein, a member of the board of directors of the General Syndicate of Physicians in Egypt, said: “The practice is for the treating physician to write the appropriate medicine for the condition in the prescription and not write the test procedure, because the law in practice requires that the person administering the medicines, especially the intravenous injections, be a nurse under the supervision of the doctor because the effect of the intravenous injections is rapid and occurs immediately after eating it.
She added: “We have to get out of the circle of attributions of responsibility because the allergy that caused the deaths of the two girls is difficult to verify or not, but what we all have to work on is to stop the culture of injections outside the hospitals so that we can ‘is a willingness to address the symptoms and side effects of drugs. “
Hussein stressed that “the law includes the necessary procedures and instructions for taking medicines, and there must be procedures to activate the law and monitor its implementation in this sense so that medicines are not dispensed without a prescription and medicines they are not hired in pharmacies at all, even if they are drinking medicines, and they work to raise the awareness of society that pharmacies are not a place to give injections and take medicines, but only a place to dispense medicines. “
