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Vitamin A deaths : Rights panel indicts Government |
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The Assam Human Rights Commission has indicted the State Government headed by Congress Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi, for the death of 23 children due to the intake of Vitamin A which was administered to infants under a state-sponsored campaign in November last year.
In its 12-page report which was made public on January 17, the Rights panel has recommended a CBI probe into the allegations surrounding the campaign, an immediate interim relief of Rs. 5,000 to the next of kin of the 23 infants and a host of precautions to be adopted during a future pulse Vitamin A campaign.
Though the AHRC did not name the UNICEF which sponsored the campaign, its report has nevertheless debunked the latter’s claim that the deaths were coincidental as there existed a “strong prima facie” case that some of the children had died due to administration of Vitamin A. The AHRC has based its findings on the report of the Health Department and statements issued by the UNICEF. The latter had stated that “the change in methods of dispensing the Vitamin A in some areas from spoon to cup might have resulted in an increase in dose administered. The Rights Panel has contended that the symptoms (nausea, vomiting, loose motion, fever and nephritis) cited as cause of deaths by Government doctors are similar to the symptoms caused by Vitamin A toxicity, poisoning or allergy.
The AHRC reached its conclusion after going through the replies of the Health Department, media reports and medical literature. The 23 children, according to the AHRC, died due to lapses on the part of the “agency or instrumentalities or public functionaries of the Assam Government whether they died of Vitamin A poisoning or toxic or allergy, or coincident with administration of Vitamin A.
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