MEERUT: A probe has been ordered in the incident in which three elderly women were allegedly administered anti-rabies injections instead of the Covid vaccine at a government hospital in Shamli district.
"I have instituted an inquiry to find the truth in the matter. The probe will be done under an Additional CMO and a sub divisional magistrate who will take statements of the victims and also investigate what happened at the community health centre. If any discrepancy is found strict action will be taken against the culprit", said DM Shamli Jasjeet Kaur.
Notably, three women in the age group of 60 to 72 had gone for the vaccination and out of three, one woman Saroj Devi's health deteriorated by the time she reached home from CHC. She was rushed to a private practitioner who found that the certificate she carried mentioned administration of Anti-rabies injection.
"There should have been proper signboards to avoid confusion. Had she not complained of reactionary symptoms of the ARV we would have been assured that Covid vaccination had been administered to her. Besides, how can you give ARV to a normal person? We complained to the authorities only after that", said Saroj Devi's son Manish Verma.
Ever since the incident occurred, the authorities are on the backfoot. According to Chief Medical Officer Shamli, Dr Sanjay Agarwal, "Coronavirus vaccination facility has a dedicated team and no other vaccination is provided to them so it is not the case of wrong administration at the Covid facility."
"Monday and Thursday are dedicated for Anti Rabies Vaccination (ARV) and it was a Thursday so both vaccinations were taking place on different floors. Besides, an OPD card is allotted for ARV which these women, out of lack of information, procured which was not needed in their case and instead of going to the first floor where Covid vaccinations were being administered, joined the queue on the ground floor meant for ARV. It was the mistake of the pharmacist who administered ARV without seeing the dog bite wound which is mandatory and even mentioned ARV on the OPD card. Action is being taken against the pharmacist," Agarwal added.
Throwing light on the side effects of ARV, a renowned physician Dr Harish Mohan Rastogi, said, "Some patients do experience dizziness, headache, muscle pain or neuro psychiatric reactions after ARV is administered to them but that's in rare cases."