Kerala human rights panel orders probe into rabies death

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala State Human Rights Commission on Tuesday directed the formation of a medical team under the Director of Medical Education to investigate the recent deaths due to rabies infection.

Commission Chairperson Justice Alexander Thomas directed the proposed team to submit a report in this regard within one month.

According to the PTI report, in the order, the panel said the medical team should investigate whether those who died of rabies recently had taken the preventive vaccine, whether the vaccine protocol was followed, the effectiveness of the vaccine administered to them, and whether the vaccines were stored properly.

The investigation report should also have details about the steps to be taken to prevent tragic incidents from recurring in the future, it said.

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The commission also asked the Additional Chief Secretary of the Health department to submit a report on the effectiveness of the vaccine used in government hospitals.

It should also be checked whether the rabies vaccines used in Kerala meet the quality standards prescribed by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the Union Ministry of Health, the order further said.

The report should also indicate which agency is capable of testing and studying the quality of the rabies vaccine, it said.

Justice Alexander Thomas asked the government to consider appointing an agency, as recommended by the NCDC, to study recent rabies death cases and recommend preventive measures.

The Additional Chief Secretary (Health) must submit a report within one month on the implementation of the instructions, it said, reports PTI.

The Deputy Director of Medical Education and a representative of the Health Secretary should be present at the sitting to be held at the Commission's office here on June 10, an official statement said.

The order was issued in a case registered on its own by the Commission based on media reports about the recent rabies deaths.

The directive came a day after a seven-year-old girl, Niya Faisal, a native of Kollam district, breathed her last at a state-run hospital here in the early hours of Monday.

Niya's tragic demise happened just days after a six-year-old girl in Malappuram district, Ziya Faris, died of rabies despite having received vaccination.

A 13-year-old girl, hailing from Pullad in Pathanamthitta, also succumbed to the infection, recently after receiving prescribed vaccine doses.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that in an unfortunate incident, a six-year-old girl receiving treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) in Kerala's Malappuram district died of rabies, a month after being bitten by a stray dog, despite having received preventive vaccination, family sources said.

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