Vitamin A deaths: Rights body castigates Unicef

guwahati: the assam human rights commission on thursday criticised the state government and unicef for the death of some children after they were given vitamin a injections. the commission said it "is of the opinion that there existed a strong prima facie case that some of the children died due to vitamin a administration". justice r k manisana singh, chairperson, and abdul mazid, a member of the commission, said the deaths could not have been coincidental, as claimed by unicef and other agencies.the panel said unicef's statement could not be wholly true as 23 of the 31 dead had taken vitamin a. the commission recommended a full-fledged investigation by the cbi. it also asked the state government to give an action taken report along with its comments on the commission's report within two months. it recommended a sum of rs 5000 each to the next of kin of the 23 children as immediate interim relief. the commission was highly critical of the agencies the way they carried out the vitamin a campaign. it observed that the leaflets distributed at the time of vaccination did not carry any warning on the side effects of vitamin a administration. the panel took special notice of the death of seven-month-old rupam urang. the leaflet distributed by the government did not mention vitamin a dose should not be given to a seven-month-old child.