ROURKELA: A four-year-old girl with a fever was wrongly administered anti-rabies shot at Bonai sub-divisional hospital prompting the Sundargarh district health administration to conduct an inquiry on Thursday.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, but came to light on the day when the child’s mother returned for consultation after the girl’s fever did not subside.
After a preliminary probe into the incident, the paediatrician has been shifted to his original place of posting in Lahunipada block for manipulation of the prescription.
Chinmayee Jena, a resident of Jagannathpur village in Bonai block, had brought her child to the hospital for fever treatment on Tuesday and after check-up, the paediatrician handed over a prescription for anti-rabies vaccine. The unsuspecting woman took the vaccine from the hospital’s drug distribution centre and got the shot administered to the child. The second dose was scheduled after a week.
However, when the child’s fever did not subside, Jena returned to the hospital and came to know that her child had been prescribed and administered anti-rabies vaccine. She, accompanied by other villagers, confronted the treating doctor but failed to get any satisfactory reply. Jena alleged that the paediatrician tore the prescription and wrote another one and sought to convince it would not have any adverse impact.
On the instruction of Sundargarh chief district medical officer Dr Suresh Chandra Mohanty, the district public health officer (DPHO) Dr Sibasish Maharana visited the hospital for an inquiry.
Citing preliminary investigation, Bonai sub-divisional medical officer (SDMO) Dr Manoj Kumar Pati said when the child arrived at the out-patient department on Tuesday, there was a rush of patients. The mother told the paediatric specialist that her daughter had a fever and there were some suspected bite marks on her back.
“Since dog bite cases were rampant in the region, the treating doctor thought it apt to administer her pre-exposure vaccination dose. Accordingly, the child was given the anti-rabies shot,” the SDMO said, adding the suspected bite marks were actually herpes infection. There is no side effect in pre-exposure vaccination and the child could complete three doses but her parents were not willing, he added.
Dr Maharana said the paediatrician was moved to his original place of posting at Lahunipada over allegations of manipulating the prescription. The child was regularly treated by the same doctor and the inquiry report would be submitted to the CDMO shortly, he added. Despite repeated attempts, the paediatrician did not pick up calls for comment.