Four Maharashtra officials suspended after infants' death

Aurangabad, Sep 28 (IANS) The Maharashtra government Sunday suspended four employees of the Jategaon primary health centre near here for dereliction of duty and dismissed one after the death of four infants following administration of measles vaccine Friday.

The four children from nearby Waghola village, all 12-month old or slightly younger, died Saturday at the government hospital where they were rushed in a serious condition following inoculation of the vaccine at the PHC.

Six others who were given the vaccine from the same vial, were still fighting for their life.

State Health Minister Vimal Mundhada, who visited the hospital earlier in the day, told reporters that the samples of the vaccine had been sent to the state food and drugs administration for testing and further action will be based on the FDA report.

A hospital source had told IANS Saturday that the vaccine, kept in cold storage, could have got spoilt because of long hours of power outage or something might have gone wrong while mixing the vaccine, indicating that the problem could be localized, restricted to one vial.

A senior health department officer had rushed to Aurangabad from Mumbai after the incident to monitor the situation.