HYDERABAD: Devari Harikrishna was furious and shocked at the negligence of government health officials at the Nampally Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) that landed his four-month-old son, D Suryaswamy, in Niloufer hospital in a critical condition. He said that his son was vaccinated and the staff gave them two tablets to be given if he developed a fever. They gave him half of the tablet, but within a few hours, he started having difficulty in breathing and started becoming drowsy. He was rushed to a private hospital at around midnight, but the doctors did not tell them what the problem was. His condition kept deteriorating.

On Thursday morning, he was told by someone that the UPHC staff was asking people who got their children vaccinated there on Wednesday to take the kids to Niloufer for a checkup. He got the child discharged and rushed him to Niloufer hospital. However; there too, the doctors did not tell them anything, he said.

The question arises why was tramadol available at the UPHC? Well, tramadol is a last-resort potent pain killer given in cases of extreme pain. According to a senior pediatrician from Niloufer, the UPHC runs a specialty health clinic, and that must be the reason why tramadol, a drug that was declared a psychotropic substance last year, was available there.

The staff distributing tramadol, confusing it for paracetamol, questions the UPHC’s accountability.