THE Georgetown Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on Monday has assured the nation that there is no need to panic due to a shortage of soda lime used to help patients breathe while under anaesthesia.

This assurance came following complaints from GPHC theatre staff that the soda lime has deteriorated from granular to powdered form. As such, it is useless to the ventilator used to help patients breathe while undergoing surgery, a release from the Ministry of Public Health stated.

This is the first such complaint about soda lime deterioration, a GPHC official confirmed Monday.  According to the release, the complaint by the theatre staff went through the official channel and was forwarded to the local company, the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (NGPC) which is the major local supplier.

“The hospital’s concerns have been noted and we will take immediate action to recall the remaining amounts,” the company assured in an email to the hospital.

The NGPC is a major supplier for drugs, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for the local health sector and promised in the email to replace the 14 bottles of the defective product “as soon as this stock arrives” in the country.

The GPHC, the only referral hospital in Guyana, currently has no soda lime in stock. However, in case of an emergency, the semi-autonomous agency can get supplies from the Woodlands Hospital in Georgetown, the release noted.

The government release quoted a “source,” who noted that the two institutions routinely assist each other. It was also confirmed Monday afternoon that the GPHC had no patients needing the product.

“When the GPHC alerted the local supplier about the defective product, it also reminded the company that the batch cannot be used because of the possibility of environmental and health-safety effects,” the Ministry of Public Health release noted.

Technically, the Soda Lime mixture is used for carbon dioxide absorption in the anaesthetic breathing system. “The granule size must be 4-8 mesh so that the total volume of space between each granule is equal” the GPHC reminded the NGPC in an email.

The degradation from granular to powdered form raises several additional health challenges according to the hospital. These include: increased resistance of the gas passing through; reduction of the amount of carbon dioxide need to be absorbed by the patient and “the dust can escape from the canister through the circuit to the patients causing irritation to the upper respiratory tract and mucus membranes.”

Other toxicological effects that can be caused include skin and eye irritation to patients and lung injury to the staff handling the powdered form of the soda lime.

“With this in mind, GPHC is strongly objecting to its use and is requesting another batch of Soda Lime,” GPHC told NGPC in the email.