Raipur (Chhattisgarh): The death of two children following a vaccination campaign in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, has ignited a major political controversy. Former Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo conducted an inspection of the district hospital on Sunday, where he assessed the condition of the affected children and spoke with their families.
He called for a thorough investigation and raised concerns about potential concealment by the government. It triggered the political conflict surrounding the issue.
Reports indicate that seven children were administered BCG and Pentavalent vaccines on Saturday. Following the vaccinations, two children died, and the condition of the remaining five deteriorated. The government has since banned the use of vaccines from the implicated batch.
The sources informed, the vaccination drive took place at an Anganwadi center in Koripara, Kota development block, Bilaspur district, on August 30 at noon. A two-day-old infant died the same day at 7:30 PM, while a two-month-old infant passed away 30 hours later on August 31 at 8 PM. The other five children were referred to the district hospital for treatment in critical condition and are currently receiving care.
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On Sunday, Singh Deo, accompanied by former MLA Shailesh Pandey and Congress leader Pankaj Singh, met with the affected families at the hospital. Singh Deo, a former health minister and Deputy Chief Minister, questioned whether the vaccines and medicines were substandard and demanded an immediate halt to their distribution. He expressed condolences to the families of the deceased children and posed several critical questions:
Were the vaccines substandard?
Why was a post-mortem not conducted on the deceased children?
Wasn’t it the government’s responsibility to investigate the entire matter?
Is the government concealing information in this sensitive case?
Singh Deo also engaged with doctors regarding the situation.
Vaccine Supply Halted
In response to the uproar, CMHO Dr. Prabhat Srivastava announced that the supply of the affected vaccine batch has been suspended. Orders have been issued for testing the vaccines and conducting post-mortems on the deceased children.
Health Minister Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, in Vishnu Dev Sai’s government, confirmed that six children are safe. He noted that the same batch of vaccines had been used for 9,000 previous vaccinations without complaints. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the two deaths, with a state-level team assigned to the task.
In light of the seriousness of the issue, the Congress has established its own investigation committee, comprising six members. Kota MLA Atal Srivastava will lead the committee, with other members including Dilip Lahariya Masturi, former MLA Shailesh Pandey, District Congress Committee President Vijay Kesharwani, District President of the Women’s Congress Seema Ghritesh, and Kota Block Congress Committee President Aditya Dixit.
The Congress’s involvement has intensified the controversy, adding a political dimension to the issue. If not resolved soon, the matter could potentially impact the BJP adversely in the forthcoming municipal elections.
