CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the State Health and Family Welfare secretary to approach the All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai and the Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai to ascertain the actual health condition of the six year-old-boy of Erode, who had allegedly been suffering from cancer following immunisation when he was barely four months old.
This follows a submission by the secretary that the ailment of the boy was not due to the immunisation shot that was administered to him, as alleged by a Tamil daily. The director of Public Health and Preventive Medicines too stated that the occurrence of cancer following immunisation has not been reported anywhere in the world.
Senior advocate K Kabir, who has been appointed as amicus curie to assist the court, suggested seeking opinion from three different experts in the same field as to whether the present condition of the child was due to immunisation. “We fully agree with him. We cannot close the case simply accepting the statement of the public health director,” the bench of justices S Nagamuthu and Anitha Sumanth said on Monday.
Appreciating the efforts taken by the authorities concerned, the bench directed the health secretary to forward all the medical records of the child to the head of the department of oncology in AIIMS and Tata Memorial hospital with a request to submit their reports by e-mail by April 4.
A similar report should also be sought from the director of Adyar Cancer Institute. These experts should answer the query as to whether there is any possibility for cancer due to immunisation.
The secretary was directed to share the expert opinions with the court on or before April 5. In the meantime the boy’s treatment shall continue, the bench said and posted the matter for further hearing on April 5.