VIZIANAGARAM: A five-month-old baby girl died after she was administered Pulse Polio drops at Pusapatipalem village of Pusapatirega mandal in Vizianagaram district on Sunday morning.
The deceased has been identified as R Harani, daughter of R Gettaya and Swathi, natives of Pusapatipalem village, who work as daily wage workers.
According to sources, the infant was administered Polio drops at around 10 am at a booth at Rellivalasa and then after sometime, mother breast fed the baby. Minutes later, the baby vomitted.
The parents took her to local PHC, where she was given first aid and then the doctors referred her to community health centre (CHC) at Bhogapuram, where she was declared brought dead.
When contacted, district medical and health officer (DMHO), Vizianagaram, C Padmaja, said that ‘aspiration’ might be the reason behind the death of the infant. The DHMO added that travel stress, dehydration and immediate breast feeding might have also caused ‘aspiration’ and led to the tragic incident.
The officials say that the baby was administrated the Polio drops at around 10 am. After that, they have kept the baby for half an hour under observation due to mild fever symptoms and sent them back. After returning home, mother Swathi breastfed the baby.
“As soon as the parents informed about the situation, we have sent a field staff nurse. The nurse, after examining the baby, took her to the local PHC where the baby was given an emergency injection and the doctor suggested taking her to a nearby CHC paediatrician who declared the baby brought dead,” she said.
According to the nurse, the parents on Saturday took the infant to Vizianagaram to apply for the ration card and spent time under hot sun whole day.
“If it’s very high fever, it would have been a problem. Since it’s very mild fever, we administrated polio drops,” claimed the DMHO.
According to the health administration, as many as 88 kids had been administered the Polio vaccination in the same booth, where Harani was given. The booth received seven vials (one vial could cater to around 18 kids), out of which four empty vials and two partially used vials were being sent to lab for tests.
The health officials and district officials inspected the PHC. Pusapatirega sub-inspector Kaladhar said that they haven’t received any complaint about it.