MANDYA: Two children from Channagiri village died and seven others were hospitalised after they were administered the Penta-1 vaccine by the health department staff and ASHA workers in a local anganwadi here.
Demanding adequate compensation, the parents and relatives of the deceased children staged a protest in front of the paediatric unit of Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) on Saturday.
The protesters from Channagiri also refused to give their consent for conducting post-mortem.
They relented only after the doctors convinced them of the need for autopsy to find out the cause of death.
The protesters held the health department responsible for the deaths of the infants. They were joined in their agitation by pro-Kannada organisations and JD(S) leaders.
MIMS Director G M Prakash, Medical Superintendent Hanumanth Prasad, District Health Officer K Mohan, Taluk Health Officer Shashidhar Basavaraj and Thasildar Rajesh visited the hospital and sought details of the case.
