A TEENAGE mother is seeking answers as to why her baby was prescribed anti-malaria medicine for suspected thrush.

Rachelle Keyter, 19, of Timber Bank, Walderslade, Chatham, was concerned when her baby Joshua – who was born six weeks prematurely – refused to feed.

Worried that he might become dehydrated, she telephoned her health visitor, who said he needed to go to the children’s ward at Gillinham's Medway Maritime Hospital.

From there she was referred to the accident and emergency department where she waited two hours before being advised to come back at 8pm.

“A doctor saw the baby, and wrote out a prescription for Nivaquine, to be taken five mls every day,” said Rachelle. “When I looked at the bottle it said 'anti-malaria’ on the label.

“On the way home I called in at the late-night pharmacy in City Way and showed the bottle to the chemist. She advised me not to give it to my baby.

“And when I looked up Niquidine on the Internet it said it should be given at the rate of five mls once a week, not every day.

“I phoned the Hospital and spoke to the doctor, who confirmed that he had prescribed Niquidine, and said it was often used in overseas countries for thrush. But I had read that it could be quite toxic if given to babies, especially once a day.”

She said the doctor later phoned back and asked if he had prescribed Niquidine or Nyastain, which is a medicine frequently prescribed for thrush.

Joshua is now 17 weeks old and feeding well with no signs of thrush.

“But if I hadn’t checked I might have poisoned my baby,” said Rachelle.

The prescriptions were issued at Medway Maritime’s Same Day Treatment Centre which is run by Medway Primary Care Trust.

A spokesperson said: “Medway PCT sends its sincere apologies to Rachelle Keyter and Joshua.

“Although prescribing mistakes do happen, they are extremely rare. When they do happen they are taken very seriously by the PCT and are fully investigated.

“Medway PCT has begun an internal investigation and this is still ongoing. The PCT has raised this issue with the doctor concerned and discussed it with him.

“The doctor is a locum doctor employed by the PCT and he will be attending extra training in relation to out-of-hours prescribing before he can work again.

“The results of this investigation will be shared with all doctors working out-of-hours to prevent this happening again. This is the usual practice following a complaint or investigation.”