Deadly Clinical Trials on Infants by A.I.I.M.S.
‘ Heart bleeds! Eyes shed tears of blood!’ – These are the impotent reactions of Armchair Critic and Action less Wood like me on reading a news item of ‘Death of 49 infants due to outsourced clinical trials at A.I.I.M.S.’ I am ashamed of myself in just simply airing the agonies in an Editorial! Bare Facts of the tragic episode are these: · 139 new clinical trials were outsourced to India. Cost of conducting clinical trials in India is less – between 20-60% as compared to trials in industrialized countries. · This clinical market trial was being undertaken for the past 2 ½ years. 4142 babies were undergone these trials. Of 4142 babies, 2728 were below the age of one. The parents of all these babies were poor and illiterates. They had been picked up by the hospital attending the outpatients and inpatients services. This itself goes to prove that the doctors would be more prone to catch the infants of these hapless parents rather than treating them for their ailments. · Five forei...