THENI: In a shocking incident, a 10-month-old baby died minutes after it was administered a paracetamol injection under the supervision of a doctor at a Primary Heath Centre (PHC) near Andipatti in the district on Saturday.Two other children, who fainted after they were administered the same injection in the PHC, have been admitted to the Theni Government Medical College Hospital. K Muniappan, Medical Superintendent of the GH, told Express that the two children were out of danger and their condition was improving.Annapackiam, wife of Suresh, a farmer of Erathimakkalpatti, had taken her 10-month-old baby, Mathibalan, who was running high temperature and cold, to the PHC at M Subbalapuram near Andipatti.Uma Balan, the doctor at the PHC, examined Mathibalan and instructed the nurse, Mariammal, to administer Paracetamol injection to the baby. But within minutes after the baby was given the shot, it fainted.Alagarraja (11) and Karthika (9), both children of Selvaraj of the same village, who were also given the same injection, fainted at the PHC. Uma Balan immediately rushed the three children to the Theni Government Medical College Hospital in an ambulance. “Mathibalan was brought dead,” said Muniappan.Relatives of Mathibalan, who were angered by his death, blocked the road in front of the hospital. Andipatti DSP Vijayabaskar and Andipatti MLA Thanga Tamilselvan rushed to the spot and pacified the agitators.“Only after the post-mortem report of the baby comes, we can decide the next course of action,” said V Shanmughasundaram, Deputy Director of Health (Madurai), who holds additional charge for Theni district.“The medicine stock (paracetamol injection) has an expiry date of September 2012. Apart from the enquiry by Periyarkulam RDO Anitha, we are conducting a technical enquiry,” he said.
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