Asst Commissioner Drinks Sanitizer Instead Of Water

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Assistant Commissioner Ramesh Pawar confused sanitizer with water and drank a sip of it. The incident took place while he was presenting the education budget in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Such bizarre and shocking incidents have taken place earlier too ever since people started using sanitizers in high numbers. Quite a handful of cases have been reported in the last few months from Arizona, Russia and even in India. Swallowing alcohol-based hand sanitiser products containing methanol can cause life-threatening methanol poisoning, In fact, drinking any form of sanitiser is dangerous.

The video of Ramesh Pawar drinking sanitizer by mistake is now going viral on the internet where he is seen picking up a sanitizer bottle kept at the dais which looks similar to a water bottle. As soon as he sips a few drops, Pawar realised that the liquid he was sipping was not water. Also, one of the officers present there is seen stopping Pawar from drinking the sanitizer.

Just a few days ago, nearly 12 kids were administered hand sanitizer instead of the oral polio vaccine drops at a Primary Health Centre in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra. The cases of confusing sanitiser with water are increasing rapidly and young children might unintentionally swallow these products. One needs to be alert because if they are left treated, methanol poisoning can be fatal or lead to vision impairments and seizures.