AIIMS: Children Were Given “Safe” Drugs

Country’s premier medical institute, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Tuesday said that the drugs, which were used on the 49 children, were found to be “safe” and the children were also not selected from a particular socio-economic group.

Suffering from a controversy over the reports of deaths of 49 children during clinical trials of new medicines in the premier institute during the last two-and -a-half years, AIIMS said that all the studies had undergone scientific scrutiny and had all the required regulatory and ethical approvals.

According to report of the institute the infants died because they had "high-risk and serious disease conditions.

The hospital also refuted the allegations that the children who underwent the tests came solely from poor families. It said that the children enrolled for the trials represented the "prevailing mix" of patients. AIIMS statement said, "There was no question of targeting any socioeconomic group selectively.”

The statement from AIIMS further added that all the children received the standard treatment and no medication or supportive care required for underlying condition withheld.

The Union Health Ministry under Anbumani Ramadoss had already ordered an in-depth enquiry of this case.

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