Jharkhand: 4 Children Died, 4 Others Fell Ill After Vaccination; Investigation Team Formed
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After being administered vaccination for measles and Japanese encephalitis, four children died after falling ill in the Patan Block of Palamu district, Jharkhand.

Four other children were admitted to Sadar Hospital, Palamu, one of them was then later transferred to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS). All the admitted children are said to be stable.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das has ordered an inquiry into the incident and has also announced compensation of Rs 1 lakh each for the deceased.

As per the report by The Indian Express, on April 7, the children were administered the vaccine at Loinga village under Patan block. It is being reported that the auxiliary nurse mid-wife (ANM) Draupadi Pandey administered vaccination to about 11 children.

A Palamu district official while speaking to The Indian Express said, “The children began having problem like fever, loose motion and vomiting. Their condition worsened through the night, even as parents tried to give them medication. By morning, four of them had died, while four others were admitted to hospital.”

As per reports, the deceased have been identified as Ujjwal (15 months), son of Upendra Thakur; Sanju Kumari (18 months), daughter of Santosh Yadav; Aryan Kumar (21 months), son of Dhirendra Bhuiyan; and Ayush Kumar (10 months) son of Santosh Yadav. All of them were the residents of Loinga village.

It is being reported that Principal Secretary (Health) Nidhi Khare has formed a two member inquiry team, which will be led by Dr A K Srivastava. This team will be assisted by doctors from World Health Organisation UNICEF representatives, who oversee the immunisation programme. This team will submit its report within seven days.

The Logical Indian spoke to Dr Kalanand Mishra, Civil Surgeon (Palamu), said, “The children who are admitted are in stable condition and they will be discharged shortly. ANM Draupadi Pandey is suspended as of now.”

Talking about the investigations, Dr Mishra said, “The bodies of the deceased children have been sent for postmortem. The blood samples have also been sent for inspection. Yesterday, we sent both the syringes used and the vaccine for inspection. When the report is obtained, the expert committee will discuss the cause behind the death of the children.

Dr Mishra further said that syringes of the same batch number were used in other places in Palamu district to vaccinate more 13,700 children in March and all the children were stable. “On Sunday, in 17 centers of Patan block also syringes from same batch number were used, so, it is a matter which needs to be investigated that why only in this case, children fell ill and died. Investigations are on to find out the reason behind this.


The Logical Indian Take

It is indeed very sad that four children lost their lives after being vaccinated. The Logical Indian hopes that proper investigation is carried out in this regard to find out what caused the death of these children.

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Editor : The Logical Indian

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