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Drug poisoning cases increase in Azerbaijan â€“ INVESTIGATION

Drug poisoning cases increase in Azerbaijan â€“ <font color=red> INVESTIGATION</font>

23 August 2010 12:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ilhama Isabalayeva â€“ APA. Millions of tonnes of drugs are used in the world a year. Only 20-30 tonnes of aspirin are dosed in the United States per day. Drug dosing is not always effective. Every year 125 people die as a result of drug poisoning.

-What is drug poisoning?

-Most of the cases occur as a result of sleeping drug poisoning. A heavy dose of sleeping drugs causes weakness, speech disturbance, deep sleep and then coma. It needs to clean stomach, to perform artificial respiration and diuresis to reduce the drug effects. A heavy poisoning can cause respiration and circulation failure with fatal cases.

Toxicologists need to get information about the dose and its time to apply first aid to the patient.

-Drug poisoning cases in Azerbaijan occur mostly as a result of patientsâ€™ irresponsibility

-Not all the drug poisoning cases are caused by suicide attempts. 60 percent of drug-poisoned people suffer accidentally or being unaware of the drug effects. Old people can forget about previous doses and dose a drug repeatedly. Young people are frequently using double doses to see strong and soonest effect. Chief inspector of the drug examination center of the health ministry Parviz Azizbayov told APA that drug poisoning cases in Azerbaijan occur mostly as a result of patientsâ€™ irresponsibility. The medicines can be dosed only on prescription. Overdosing can cause poisoning.

Azizbayov said patients should dose medicines as it is recommended and scheduled by a doctor.

-Medical brigades often confuse drug poisoning with the side effects of drugs

-Director of toxicological department of the Clinic Medical Center Azer Magsudov told APA that often medical brigades bring patients suffering with side effects of drugs calling it drug poisoning. In these cases though the patientâ€™s health deteriorates, no symptoms of drug poisoning are observed during the examination. The patient, who undergoes side effects of drugs, is discharged after the medical aid. Magsudov says that there is difference between the side effects of drugs and drug poisoning. The side effects of the drugs are observed as allergic reaction.
â€œCommon symptoms resemble the drug poisoning. Drug poisoning is determined in the laboratory through the toxic chemical analysis of the blood. The analysis determines whether it is drug poisoning and what type of drug caused poisoning,â€ he said.

-The majority of those poisoned from drugs in Azerbaijan are women

-Senior toxicologist of Baku Main Health Department Ismayil Efendiyev told APA that 1834 were hospitalized with diagnosis of poisoning in 2009. 763 of them, 42% were poisoned from drugs. The majority of them are women particularly aged between 20-40. The poisonings increased compared with 2008. The poisonings often happened after taking sedatives.

Statistical materials on the drug poisoning are not collected in Azerbaijan. So, while preparing this article, we were obliged to base on the reports released quoting the Interior Ministry. According to these reports, 24 people were hospitalized with diagnosis of drug poisoning in April-June. 7 of them died. One of them â€“ Zahra Guluzadeh, 10, was taken to Azersutikinti hospital for examination and died there after injection.

-Europeans choose paracetamol, Azerbaijanis chlorine, acid for suicide

-Toxicologists are mostly concerned over the use of paracetamol and panadol, paulenol and efferalgan from this group. According to the Stern magazine, every year 30,000 in UK have chronic kidney disease, 100 die because of the overdose of paracetamol. Efendiyev confirms that nonprescription paracetamol is considered very dangerous drug in Europe. According to the senior toxicologist, paracetamol is the only drug that is widely prescribed to both adults and children in Europe.
â€œEvery European has paracetamol at home. In these countries those who want to commit suicide use paracetamol. There is no such a problem in Azerbaijan.

Paracetamol poisoning is recorded in our country very rarely. Paracetamol poisoning is recorded less than 10 times in Azerbaijan in comparison with European countriesâ€.

In general, according to Afandiyev, who thinks that each drug is harmful for organism, if one compare, analgin is harmful more than paracetamol. In spite of it, analgin, at the same tome, baralgin, spazmalgon are used in Azerbaijan widely. Analgin is harmful for human organism much more than paracetamol, and that is why it has been forbidden in Europe, US. Afandiyev said that people who want commit a suicide in Europe take paracetamol, and chlorine, acetic acid and other burning solutions in Azerbaijan. To the words of general toxicologist poisoning by chemical, burning solutions is more in Azerbaijan than in European countries.

Along with burning solutions, number of Carbon monoxide poisoning has increased in Azerbaijan as well. Afandiyev says that though some measures are taken, though Ministry of Emergency Situations controls over the devices the number of Carbon monoxide poisoning cases increase in Azerbaijan. 238 persons poisoned by carbon monoxide in 2009, and it is 30 percent more in comparison with 2008. The toxicologist think that small number of Carbon monoxide poisoning in Europe is the result of taken preventive measures: â€œCarbon monoxide gas analyzeris for prophylaxis against this poisoning is sold at every drug-stores in Europe. People form it at their homes. When amount of carbon monoxide overpasses the norm at home, it signals. And by this means, poisoning is prevented.â€

-The court determines which punishment will be given to people guilty in drug poisoning.

-Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentâ€™s Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev told APA that responsibilities related to keeping the drugs, import of inferior drugs, their sale has been reflected in the law on â€œAbout medicinal preparationsâ€. These responsibilities do not take only administrative character. Criminal responsibility has also been considered in the law: â€œResponsible persons of both wholesale and drug-store networks bear responsibility for sale of inferior, expired drugs, importing of wrong dosed drugs in Azerbaijan. But giving any punishment in such cases is the work of a court. And that is why responsible persons may be fined, their pharmacology activity may be forbidden for some time, or they may be arrestedâ€.