According to Dr. Nguyen Van Truong, director of Hung Vuong Maternity Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, a scientific council meeting will be convened next week to find out the actual cause of death of a pregnant woman on August 11.
Dr. Truong said that the hospital had held a meeting with their medical staff to discuss and ascertain cause of death of Nguyen Thanh Hong Phi, a pregnant woman from the Mekong delta province of Ben Tre, who had been admitted to the maternity hospital.
At the meeting, medical staff attributed the drug Salbutamol to have been cause of death, as the side effects of Salbutamol increases pulse rate of mother and fetal heart beat.
Dr. Truong said that the pregnant woman, Nguyen Thanh Hong Phi, from the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre was admitted to Hung Vuong Maternity Hospital in a condition that threatened pre-mature labor.
In order to decrease uterus contractions, she was treated with intravenous Salbutamol for four days.
Though the drug did help in decreasing contractions, it increased pulse rate and led to swelling of lungs. Dr. Truong said that it is rare to see swelling of the lungs with Salbutamol.
However, side effect developed on the patient after four days of intravenous injections of Salbutamol, and caused much discomfort to her by the evening of August 10, when Phi began to develop breathing problems and fatigue.
Hung Vuong Hospital held a meeting with Cho Ray Hospital to discuss her case and method of treatment. Soon after the meeting, doctors from both the hospitals decided to operate on Nguyen Thanh Hong Phi, so as to save her baby. U
nfortunately, they were unable to save the mother.
