May-June 1999

We tested 41 brands of IV fluids from four categories

• Normal Saline (NS), 5% Dextrose (5D), Dextrose & Normal Saline (DNS), and Ringer Lactate (RL) Infusions
  
• against specifications in the Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP). Of these, 26 were national brands and 15 regional. They formed almost 80 percent of the total marketshare of IV fluids sold in India.

Safety

• Among the 41 brands, the DNS product from Kokal Pharmaceuticals did not conform to the all-important ‘sterility’ test. IV fluids should be sterile as they are life-savers. Their contamination by bacteria or fungai may cause serious health hazards like ‘septicemia’ or blood poisoning.
  
• Altogether, 14 brands failed to conform to the test for ‘particulate matter’: 1 in the NS, 9 from the DNS and 4 from the 5D. The IP allows not more than 50 particles of 10 mm size and 5 particles of 25 mm in each ml. of the solutions. It states that particles of size 50 mm or above should be abscent in all formultions. Bigger particles may block a patient’s blood vessels, resulting in loss of blood supply to vital tissues like kidney, brain, retina, intestine, heart, etc. All brands of the Ringer Lactate category cleared this test.
  
• To test the quality of dextrose

Details of the test report can be had in INSIGHT

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