Hyderabad: Class 10 student, Samudra Laxmi Bhavani Keerthi, who was bitten by rats 15 times, at the state-run BC Welfare Hostel, in Danavaigudem, Khammam, has been partially paralysed in an arm and a leg after an alleged overdose of rabies vaccine.
Keerthi was administered the vaccine every time she was bitten by a rat during March and November. Keerthi’s mother, Samudra Bindu said that when the girl was first bitten in February she was taken to the hospital and given the vaccine, without her knowledge.
Last week the hostel informed Bindu that Keerthi was unable to walk and had to be carried to the hospital. Currently, Keerthi is admitted to the Mamta General Hospital in Khammam where doctors suggest that an overdose of the vaccines may have caused the paralysis. However, medical reports are awaited.
The hostel is facing a severe case of rat infestation as other students have also been bitten and had to be administered the vaccine. However, they were only bitten once and their case is not as severe as Keerthi’s.
80 students reside at the hostel currently and measures such as trap boxes and glue pads have been taken following these cases.
The district collector Muzzamil Khan ordered an inquiry into the issue, following which district child welfare officials have submitted a report.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader and Rajya Sabha MP V Ravichandra criticized the sorry state of affairs at the hostel and demanded that Keerthi be shifted to a hospital in Hyderabad for better treatment.
