Thiruvananthapuram, 30 Oct (H.S.):

Kerala Health Minister K. Muraleedharan said he would comment further on the Nipah drug controversy only after receiving an expert committee’s report, stressing that the administration of expired medicine had not been established.

The minister said the government suspected that medicines given to patients at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital might have crossed their expiry date. An independent expert committee had therefore been appointed to investigate, without any preconceived conclusions.

“There is a suspicion, but it has not been proved that expired medicine was administered. That is why we have entrusted the inquiry to an impartial expert committee,” he said.

Muraleedharan maintained that his statements in the Assembly were based on information supplied by responsible health department officials. A report incorporating all information available to the department had been placed before the House, he said.

He rejected suggestions that his remarks reflected a personal assessment, saying a minister presents departmental findings rather than opinions formed without an official basis.

Clarifying the scope of the inquiry, Muraleedharan said there was no dispute over the medicine’s quality. The question was whether the doses administered had expired and how the medicine had been used.

“These are matters for experts to examine. I am not a medical graduate. We can draw conclusions only after the committee submits its report,” he said.

The minister also said the medical college superintendent had confirmed the previous day that the medicine did not carry a manufacturing date. Medicines would ordinarily require both manufacturing and expiry dates, he added.

Turning his criticism towards the previous government, Muraleedharan alleged that agency dealings had become widespread across the health sector during its tenure. He linked this to what he described as reluctance among IAS officers to head the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Limited.

He reiterated that further action would follow the inquiry.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman