Parents claims the children had received polio and measles vaccines. PHOTO: FILE
In separate incidents, four children including twins reportedly died in Sindh after they received polio drops and measles vaccines, The Express Tribune learnt on Tuesday
The first tragic incident was reported from a remote area of Badin district, where 4-month-old Maria and her brother Ramazan died after receiving polio drops.
According to Murtaza Jat, the uncle of the children, both the children were healthy till Monday afternoon, when the polio team came to their house.
“After taking drops, both the minors got unconscious and were taken to nearby hospital where Maria died on Monday night while Ramazan died during treatment at the Children Charitable Hospital Mirpurkhas on Tuesday early morning,” he said.
He said two other children of same village also got sick getting polio drops. “They started vomiting and are still ill,” he added.
Murtaza believes that Maria’s postmortem report will disclose the truth. “The doctor present at Pangrio’s Public Hospital was not ready for Ramzan’s postmortem. He made fun of our request,” he added.
He said the vaccination team carried drops in shopping bags without ice. “They didn’t even know how many drops to give. They just leveled the bottle without counting drops,” he alleged. “It is a very sensitive issue as health department’s teams are playing with the lives of children.”
A team of doctors, including District Health Officer Dr Kausar Ali Mandhro, Dr Alam Jamali and Dr Noor Muhammad Khoso has conducted an inquiry into the matter and rejected the allegations of the parents.
“No doubt we are clear. Both the children died of rheumatic fever not of polio drops,” clarified Dr Mandhro. “We took the history of the children and found that they had fever.”
He said the parents of children will lodge an FIR against health officials today (Wednesday).
In another incident two children allegedly died of measles vaccination on Monday. “The injected expired vaccines to the children,” alleged the father of a child Zakaullah Gurmani. “It is a clear case of negligence.”
Rejecting parents’ allegations, Dr Sher Muhammad Memon and Lady Health Worker Shama Gurmani said that the vaccines were not expired; adding that other children also had received the same vaccines.
The sources from the area told The Express Tribune that due to long power outages in Jati Taluka, the freezing system available at the hospital had been affected.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 2nd, 2013.
COMMENTS (3)
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well doctor this death could be a number for you ....ask from that person who lost their beloved....WHO or whoever support for(polio vaccines) to save the persons from polio all the burden of the expences on their shoulders..in the last ten years only 198 cases were known as polio defective in kpk......but ppl never dies from polio only disables...they can still get good education.....but on the other hand one million children dieing from dyria......this nonsense..
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Well Doctor you would say this would you not? first it was 1% of children have bad reaction and now it is more like 3%! The pharmaceutical industry can easily afford to compensate those who dare to sue. As to the others they would tell them well your child was sick to start with!!! Can I recommend a publication called 'What doctors do not tell you' ? You cannot get rid of disease without getting rid of the underlying causes. Allowing children to develop their immune system gives them a better chance of resisting disease.
In a country where so many infants embrace death due to law and order, natural calamities, and bomb blasts, we should not be worried of a couple of deaths due to polio vaccinations.