Kids administered hand sanitizer instead of polio drops, 12 land on hospital beds

Around a dozen children landed on the hospital beds after being administered hand sanitizer instead of oral polio vaccine drops in western Indian state of Maharashtra.

According to reports in the local media, around 2,000 small children had gathered outside a primary health centre in Ghatanji’s Kapsi-Kopari to get polio drops on Sunday under the national immunization drive.

Some of the kids, however, were administered drops of sanitizer instead of the polio vaccine drops by accident, officials told the media.

Very soon, they complained of nausea and cramps as they started vomiting after which they were immediately admitted to the local government Medical College and Hospital for treatment.

“The children are under observation. They are stable and improving,” a government official Dr Milind Kamble told news agency IANS.

Kamble denied the sanitizer is fatal saying it contains around 70 percent of alcohol which may create health complications though, especially among the children.