Child suffering from fever given rabies vaccine

A child who came for fever treatment at the Shahrasti Upazila Health Complex in Chandpur was mistakenly given rabies vaccine. The incident occurred at the hospital's emergency department on Wednesday (April 8) afternoon.

According to sources, Emran Hossain of Ashrafpur village in Kachua upazila brought his five-year-old daughter Alifa to the emergency department with fever. At the same time, Rubel of Ahmed Nagar village in Shahrasti upazila brought his 14-year-old son Nazmul to the hospital for dog bite treatment.

When the two patients came to the hospital, the doctor on duty, Saiful Islam, gave them separate prescriptions. However, Abu Yusuf, the Deputy Assistant Community Medical Officer (SECMO) in charge of the emergency department, mistakenly administered dog bite vaccine to Alifa, who was suffering from fever, without seeing the doctor's prescription.

When the patient's relatives protested after realizing the mistake, tension arose in the hospital area and an argument broke out with the parents. Later, when media personnel arrived at the scene, the matter came to light.

Abu Yusuf said that a fever patient was mistakenly given a dog vaccine as two patients came to the emergency department at the same time. However, there is no risk of harm to the child. He expressed regret for the unintentional mistake.

Shahrasti Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Aklima Jahan said that even if the vaccine was given incorrectly, there is no risk of the child having any major problems. However, the Deputy Assistant Community Medical Officer will be held accountable for negligence in his duties as per the rules.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the affected family has filed a complaint with the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) regarding the incident.