The Hindu : Injection bungle: children stable

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 20, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Injection bungle: children stable

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Feb. 19. The children who were admitted to the SAT Hospital and General Hospital here after they developed giddiness due to the administration of wrong injections, are learnt to be out of danger.

As many as 206 children had developed giddiness after they were reportedly administered insulin instead of Hepatitis vaccine at a Primary Health Centre at Kalliyoor in the suburbs here today.

As many as 180 children were kept under observation at the SAT Hospital and 26 at the General Hospital for 24 hours.

The District Medical Officer, K. Shylaja, has recommended disciplinary action against the doctor in charge of the PHC and five junior public health nurses, for dereliction of duty.

According to Dr. Shyalaja, the first dose had been given to 208 children on January 5 at the PHC. The incident came to the notice of the PHC staff when they checked the vials around 12 noon today after the completion of the administration of the vaccine. The Health authorities were alerted and all the children who had gone to the PHC were shifted to the SAT and General hospitals as a precautionary measure after alerting the parents through loudspeaker announcements.

The children were shifted to the hospitals in ambulance by the Health authorities and medical team were rushed to the locality.

According to Rajasekahran, his four-and-a-half-year-old son, Akhil, developed giddiness, vomited and complained of headache around 2 p.m.

The children were being kept under observation in the wards in the SAT Hospital and their blood was tested for ascertaining the blood sugar level.

Several parents demanded that stern action should be taken against the erring PHC staff. "The staff responsible for this should be dismissed from service,'' said Sugathan, whose 14-month- old grandson, Mahi, developed giddiness.

The Health Minister, P. Sankaran, the Health Secretary, Ramamoorthy and A. Neelalohithadas, the local MLA, were among those who visited the SAT Hospital in the evening. The Minister promised that an inquiry would be made into the incident. The Deputy District Medical Officer and the Rapid Response Team rushed to the PHC and seized the used vials. The DMO will submit the report to the Director of Health Services tomorrow.

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