- GUWAHATI, India (Reuters)
- Thousands of children have fallen ill and one girl died in Assam after
being given contaminated doses of Vitamin A in an immunisation drive
against
blindness, police said on Tuesday.
-
- A two-year-old girl died of high fever in Silchar town
after she was given an oral dose of Vitamin A on Sunday, said Doctor
B.C.Kro,
head the health services in the north eastern state.
-
- Hundreds of children between the ages of one to six were
pouring into hospitals with complaints of fever, vomiting and stomach pain,
Kro said. He estimated that the number of children affected could run to
10,000.
-
- "One batch of the medicine was contaminated and
that caused the illness," the state's Additional Director General
of Police Sharda Prasad said.
-
- On Sunday, Assam's health officials held a day-long drive
sponsored by UNICEF to immunise children across the state with concentrated
vitamin A solution to eradicate blindness.
-
- UNICEF officials in New Delhi were not immediately
available
for comment.
-
- State Health Minister Dr Bhumidhar Burman told Reuters
that he had ordered health officials to set up medical camps in rural areas
to take care of the children.
-
- Vitamin A is seen by aid agencies as a simple and
cost-effective
way of preventing blindness among poor families whose diets are often
lacking
in vitamins.
-
-
-
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