03/10/2025
ONE WRONG INJECTION COULD BE YOUR LAST, CHOOSE WISELY
I was on the night shift the previous week, when a young man was brought into the clinic, he was semi unconscious and convulsing with repeated seizures. He was brought by a patent medicine store owner alongside friends of the patient.
According to them, the patient has been given 4 million units of Pestine injection INTRAVENOUSLY.
He, the chemist owner told me that the patient had complained of severe abdominal pain for over two weeks, hence why he gave him the injection. From the way he spoke, bro knows little or nothing about drugs, diagnosis or proper treatment.
I immediately began resuscitating the patient and with Allah's help we(my colleague) were able to give him a second chance at life.
I intended to call the police on the patient medicine seller but later decided not to. Instead I gave him a stern warning to abstain from further administering any form of injection and focus on selling the over the counter drugs he is legally permitted to sell.
This injection in question, shown in the picture below, is Pestine injection. Each vial contains a combination of Procaine penicillin G which made up 3 million unit and Benzyl penicillin sodium Which is 1 million unit, totalling 4 million units.
It's commonly used in the treatment of Syphilis and other sexually transmitted Infections, as well as skin and soft tissue infections among others.
The route of administration is exclusively IM(Intramuscular) and when given IV(Intravenous) it can lead to life-threatening potential complications such as;
Cardiovascular collapse
Convulsions
Seizures
Auditory and or visual hallucinations.
In Nigeria, it's estimated that around 250,000 people die annually in Nigeria due to medical errors. Many of which are preventable. Patent medicine vendors and untrained drugs sellers contribute significantly to this tragedy.
Our regulatory bodies must do better. And as individuals, we must also learn to value our health.
Copied from Nurse Mustapha Aliyu Dankami
