Boy dies after being administered vaccine

Published October 23, 2008

LARKANA, Oct 22: A three-year-old boy, Ghulam Abbas Gopang, resident of Saeedodero village, died allegedly after being administered a dose of Diphtheria, Pertusis and Tetanus (DPT) vaccine on Wednesday.

The father of the deceased along with the villagers brought the body to the office of EDO Health, Larkana, alleging that the boy had died of wrong administration of the vaccine.

When contacted, EDO Health, Dr Abdul Fatah Bughio, said that he had suspended the vaccinator Mumtaz Bhatti and constituted a team to investigate the matter. The team comprised Dr Faqeer Mohammed Khokhar, the medical superintendent of Ratodero Taluka Hospital and Dr Abdul Wahid Taggar, District Officer, Tuberculosis.

The EDO said that the same vaccinator had administered similar vaccines to over 30 other children in the area and no such case was reported from among them. ‘At this juncture without investigations “we could not say that death was due to the vaccine” ,the EDO Health said.

He said he had observed rashes on the body of the boy. When asked about the expiry date of vaccine, he said it was not expired.—Correspondent