Unicef 'still under probe'

Many children were hospitalised after taking vitamin A

The government in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam says the United Nations children's agency, Unicef, should still be investigated in connection with the deaths of children given vitamin supplements in an anti-blindness campaign earlier this month.

At least 20 children were reported to have died and hundreds of others were admitted to hospital after receiving vitamin A doses in the campaign, in which Unicef supplied the vitamin A syrup.

Unicef says the programme was subject to comprehensive quality control and there may be no connection between the campaign and the deaths.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting an enquiry in to the incident.

Unrelated

The Health Minister of Assam, Bhumidhar Barman told the BBC on Wednesday: "The state government wants the CBI enquiry to include all those involved in the entire campaign."

That, he said, should include " Unicef, the manufacturers of vitamin A, the training aspect of the campaign, the administration and the supervision also besides any other matter which the CBI feels fit to investigate to finally find the cause of death of these poor children."

It seems the panic created due to the side effects resulted in all the deaths being attributed to vitamin A

C P Thakur, India's Health Minister

In Delhi, the central Health Minister, C P Thakur, told parliament last week that in most cases the death was due to causes unrelated to vitamin A.

The deaths have taken place due to diseases like cardiac failure, foreign body aspiration or severe anaemia, he said.

He said: "In many cases the parents have reported that the deceased child had not been given any dose of vitamin A.

"It seems the panic created due to the side effects resulted in all the deaths being attributed to vitamin A," he said.

Unicef's Information Officer, Savita Naqvi, said more than 11 million children die due to vitamin A related deficiencies every year across the world.

She said vitamin A programmes conducted on a large-scale around the world have not been found to cause such severe effects.