Baby dies after getting anti-polio vaccine

TANGERANG, West Java (JP): The obsession with targets in the national anti-polio drive is said to be the reason behind the attitude of health officials who prioritized vaccine administration over the condition of a very sick baby.

Maryati, a 14-month-old girl who was suffering from a high fever, died after her grandmother, Anih, brought her to a polio immunization post in the Legok district on Tuesday morning.

Maryati lost consciousness at 9 a.m. and died on the way to a clinic. The vaccination post, located in the Ciodeng area in the village of Palasari, was then closed down.

"Health officials should not be preoccupied with targets to the extent that a person's general condition is ignored," Kartono Mohamad, the former chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association, said yesterday.

After Maryati's burial at noon, her father, Hosen, a motor- taxi driver, agreed to sign a statement from village officials that the death was not related to the administration of the vaccine and that the family would not sue.

The grandmother had told a health official at the post that Maryati had a fever for the last two weeks. A doctor at the community health center had said earlier that Maryati had typhoid.

She was treated at home as Hosen, 40, and his wife Maryani, 35, who have eight children, could not afford hospital treatment.

Kartono told The Jakarta Post that the improper treatment of typhoid would have been the likely cause of death, while the vaccine is safe.

The health official only told Anih that it was not a problem to administer the vaccine to Maryati.

"But health officials should have informed (the grandmother) of immediate measures to overcome the fever, or give medicine and urge her to take the child to a doctor immediately. The vaccine could be postponed," Kartono said.

Besides another immunization day held on Oct. 15, another round is planned for next year.

Village officials and the health officials at the post were not available for comment.

Those responsible for the national drive should not only prepare health officials, who are also recruited from the general public, to administer the vaccine, Kartono said.

"Even if an infant only has a skin infection, the official should at least inform the parent of necessary measures to overcome the problem," he said. (28/anr)