Senior Health official conducts inquiry into Odisha polio drop death case

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Nayagarh, July 3:

The Odisha Family Welfare director  today conducted an inquiry into the alleged death of an infant and 11 others falling ill on Wednesday after being administered polio drops at Balabhadrapur village under Ranpur block in Nayagarh district.

The Family Welfare director, Dr Nirmala Dei today visited the district headquarters hospital here to conduct an inquiry into the incident.

The director spoke to all parties concerned at the district headquarters hospital and did a thorough check up of the 11 children who were admitted to the hospital after their parents complained they had fallen ill following the administration of polio drops at the panchayat office in Balabhadrapur.

The 11 children were discharged from the hospital today as their condition was found to be stable.

Dr Dei said the real cause behind the death of the child would be known only after the post mortem report is received. She said she will be also visiting the parents of the deceased child to find out the sequence of events after administration of the drops to the child, adding, she has also spoken to the ANM who had administered the drops to the deceased child and other children at the vaccination centre.

Speaking to reporters in Bhubaneswar, the state Health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said preliminary steps have been taken after the incident but oen has to wait and go through all the reports before reaching any conclusion in the matter. He said it was difficult to say anything at this point as to what actually led to the infant’s death as other children too had been administered with drops from the same vial and they had no complaints.

Meanwhile, the secretary and treasurer of State Women Health Workers Association visited the CDMO’s office at the district headquarters hospital here and protested against the suspension of the ANM in the incident.