81 adverse drug reactions recorded in 4 months

HYDERABAD, FEB 2016: 
Patients developing allergic rashes or dermatitis (skin problems) due to adverse drug reactions can now seek help from the Osmania Medical College's adverse drug reaction monitoring centre (ADRMC). Set up in 2014, the centre, over the last four months, has not only reported as many as 81 adverse drug reaction cases among patients but also changed the line of treatment for them.
Adverse reactions were found among patients visiting the 10 city-based government medical colleges under OMC. Their reports were subsequently sent to the headquarters of Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI) in Ghaziabad.
Some of the drugs causing reactions include Diclofenac (pain killer), Metronidazole and Curadex (used for infection control), Eptoin (used for treating convulsions), and Adriamycin (anti-cancer drug), among others.
"Even though clinical trials are conducted before a drug enters the market, it is possible that some of its adverse drug reactions (ADR) may escape detection as the sample size that drug manufacturers use for testing are too small," explained Dr V Prasanna, coordinator of ADRMC and head, pharmacology, Osmania Medical College.
In fact, in one of the 81 ADRs reported by OMC between September 15 and January 16, the drug Diclofenac led to the death of a woman at the government maternity hospital, Petlaburj. The use of this drug has been reduced thereafter.
Though such incidents are isolated and are primarily attributed to variation in metabolism rate or genetic reasons among patients, Dr Prasanna said they could be averted in future if ADR's are reported to the centrally-run national coordination Centre of PvPI at Ghaziabad. "Sometimes, based on ADR reporting, some drugs are recalled for patient safety," she said.
Launched by the union health ministry in 2010, the PvPI has 179 adverse drug reaction monitoring centers in the country, including seven centers in Telangana.
However, the ADR cases being reported by OMC and its affiliated colleges are still limited, considering all the 10 teaching hospitals in the city collectively have bed strength of over 5,000. They also receive about 1,000 in-patients and 5,000 out patients a day on an average.The Times of India