ZAGREB, Oct 16 (Hina) - No new facts were given during Tuesday's session of the parliamentary labour, health and welfare committee, which focused on the tragic death of 21 kidney patients during and after treatment in a few
haemodialysis centres in Croatia last week. Committee members asked many questions, for instance if death could have been prevented with prompt reaction and whether there was an information system within public health institutions, which would prevent such a tragedy from recurring, but Health Minister Ana Stavljenic Rukavina did not give direct answers. The minister reiterated the assessment that the ministry reacted within the shortest possible time and withdrew contentious 'Baxter' dialysers from use, after which no death was reported from haemodialysis centres. This fact corroborates the suspicion that the deaths were caused by a technical malfunction on said dialysers,
ZAGREB, Oct 16 (Hina) - No new facts were given during Tuesday's
session of the parliamentary labour, health and welfare committee,
which focused on the tragic death of 21 kidney patients during and
after treatment in a few haemodialysis centres in Croatia last
week.
Committee members asked many questions, for instance if death could
have been prevented with prompt reaction and whether there was an
information system within public health institutions, which would
prevent such a tragedy from recurring, but Health Minister Ana
Stavljenic Rukavina did not give direct answers.
The minister reiterated the assessment that the ministry reacted
within the shortest possible time and withdrew contentious
'Baxter' dialysers from use, after which no death was reported from
haemodialysis centres.
This fact corroborates the suspicion that the deaths were caused by
a technical malfunction on said dialysers, but according to the
minister, this cannot be the final proof of the Baxter company's
responsibility for the tragedy.
She added that immediately upon receiving information from the
Pozega dialysis centre about the unusual deaths of its patients,
all 16 possible causes of death were investigated, with the
dialysers the last to be tested.
Asked why the haemodialysis centre in Pula was not informed about
the entire case on Saturday morning, the head of the Public Health
Institute, Marija Strnad, answered the centre had been notified at
01.52 pm Saturday. There were no deaths during haemodialysis at the
time, with the first patient dying at 05.00 pm the same day, she
said.
In Pula, six patients died during or after treatment in the centre
on Saturday.
Miroslav Rozic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) asked whether
the U.S. company "Baxter", the manufacturer of the controversial
dialysers, had shares of Pliva, adding an answer to this question
could help establish why such dialysers appeared on the Croatian
market after a similar tragedy in Spain in August.
Pliva, the domestic drugs company and importer of the Baxter
dialysers, should not shun its responsibility, Rozic maintains.
The committee adopted a proposal that the situation in Croatia's
health system, following the death of the 21 kidney patients,
should be discussed at Sabor's plenary session.
(hina) sb ms