On August 7, immediately after being administered the DPT injection at the government dispensary in Ram Darbar, Phase II, the children reportedly developed abscesses. In one-year-old Anjali’s case, the abscess kept growing in size, the family alleges. And on August 19, the child died.

The incident has the residents of Ram Darbar, most of them illiterate, too scared to get their children vaccinated. “My grand-daughter is better off without the injections. She’ll definitely live longer than the ones who are being administered injections,” says Asharfi Devi. Others around her echo the sentiment.

The opinion could lead to serious health problems among children, but ask Dr Neena Chaudhary, the doctor incharge of the dispensary, and all she says is: “I don’t think this could be the reason for the child’s death. It must have been diarrhoea.” And then she shrugs, “But the abscess could be because of a reaction to the DPT injection.”

Also, disposable syringes weren’t used, allege the parents. Worse still, they say, the syringes weren’t even being sterilised before being used on different children. Dr Chaudhary refutes the allegation. “Syringes are always sterilised,” she maintains but does not specify whether this was done on August 7.

Parents, meanwhile, also allege that the behaviour of the doctor was rude. “When Shubham, my one-year-old son, developed an abscess and fever soon after being administered the injection, I rushed back to the doctor. But she just got angry with me,” alleges Nirmala, a resident.

Seven-month-old Rahul’s mother, Rinki, also alleges: “I too went back to the doctor, who scolded me very badly. ‘How am I responsible,’ she shouted. So, I took my child to a private doctor. He’s fine now.”

When contacted, UT Director Health Services Dr C.P. Bansal said: “The incident occurred a long time ago.” Asked whether he was aware that a child had died allegedly because of this, he said: “I will have to find this out before I can let you know anything.”