PGIMER Chandigarh Pediatric Emergency often see cases with perforated colon or intestine after the child was given Lomotil for treating extensive diarrhoea. These cases are majorly landing either from Uttar Pradesh or Himachal Pradesh. Due to perforation, there has to be surgery to close the perforation (hole) caused in the respected area. Surprisingly, this is a banned drug by GOI and aggressively prescribed by UP-based private practicing doctors. The Daily Guardian has spoken to many experts of Punjab, Haryana, and UP on this emerging issue and found out that this is a planned practice of few private clinical practitioners in UP to mint heavy money.
Case1: Priya, 7 years old, from Kanpur was suffering from extensive diarrhoea. Parents approached the private hospital of Kanpur where the child was given Lomotil to stop diarrhoea. Thereafter child suffered acute constipation and acute loss of appetite. Parents again went to the same hospital where the paediatrician after doing an Ultrasound informed them that their child was suffering from a hole in the intestine. They were asked to pay Rs 15 lakh for correcting hole surgery. Parents appeared in PGI, Chandigarh, and then got to know it was Lomotil that caused a hole in the intestine. PGI did surgery within minimal cost and the child got fine later. Her father Ramdeen while speaking to The Daily Guardian told that many such kids in Kanpur had the same problem and got surgically treated in the same private hospital.
Case2: Sidharth, 6 years old, too was from Kanpur, suffered diarrhoea, given Lomotil by another private practicing paediatrician. He later presented with an acute stomach ache, acute constipation, and was found to have an intestine perforation. His father Sumant Suman was asked to shell out Rs 21 lakh for perforation correction surgery. The expert paediatrician of Kanpur Dr Deen Dayal of a private hospital says, “This is a banned drug and shall not be available over the counter. But Chemists here are hand in gloves with some doctors and give this medicine to stop diarrhoea. Lomotil does not cause perforation for sure, yet there are maximum cases of perforation due to this medicine. Even addicts are taking this medicine as an opioid.”
“Lomotil may cause perforation, we often ask parents if they had given this specific medicine to the child during diarrhoea, they say yes. And, there is evidence available in many medical journals as well. Doctors know that they shall not prescribe this medicine yet cases are appearing in our emergency,” says Prof Arun Bansal, Advanced Pediatric Centre PGIMER.