Family planning injection withdrawn

by Carol Aloysius

The entire batch of Depo-Provera contraceptive injections allegedly responsible for the death of a young woman in the Kandy district, Thursday, has been withdrawn with immediate effect.
“It is a temporary measure. We are still carrying out investigations, which include testing the sample of the injection administered to the victim, at the National Drug Quality Assurance Laboratory,” the director of the Cosmetics Devices and Drugs Authority Dr. B.V.S.H Beneregama told The Nation.

Meanwhile a health team comprising members of the Family Health Bureau ( FHB), the Drug Quality Assurance Laboratory and the Cosmetics Devices and Drugs Authority was rushed to Rambukkewala in the Kandy District Friday to investigate into the sudden death of the young mother who had collapsed after being administered the Depo–Provera Contraceptive injection at the Central Clinic - a small clinic in Pujapitiya, Rambukkewela in the Kandy district where the F.H.B conducts family planning programmes.

Dr. Deepthi Perera, Director Family Health Bureau, which is responsible for the family planning programme told The Nation that the drug was well within the expiry date which was 2014. Assuring that Depo-Provera was a safe contraceptive, she said: “When thousands of doses are given to women every day, isolated and rare cases of hypersensitivity or allergic reaction to the drug are bound to occur.”
Describing the drug in question a health source told The Nation “Depo-Provera is a branded shot in the arm contraceptive injection - a reversible method of birth control. It is given to prevent pregnancy and usually administered 7-8 weeks after a child birth and lasts for up to three months.”

http://www.nation.lk/edition/todays-news/item/3770-family-planning-injection-withdrawn.html