Doctor and nurse suspended for mistakenly administering Thane resident with anti-rabies vaccine instead of COVID-19

A resident of Thane in Maharashtra was mistakenly administered with an anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) instead of a COVID-19 dose, said Thane Municipal Corporation officials on Wednesday.

Rajkumar Yadav, a resident of Kalwa, had gone to get the COVID-19 vaccine at a healthcare centre in the Kalwa area of Thane district.

The municipal corporation has accepted this mistake and immediately suspended the doctor and nurse posted at the centre. The corporation informed that the person who was administered the anti-rabies vaccine is stable.

Sandeep Malvi, Additional Municipal Commissioner, TMC, said, "The concerned patient, Rajkumar Yadav, on Monday came inquiring about the COVID-19 vaccine at the Atkoneshwar Nagar primary health care centre in Kalwa east. The medical officer in-charge of the centre gave him case papers for the Covishield vaccine and asked him to wait in the queue."

Malvi further said that Yadav mistakenly went and sat in a queue meant for ARV, when his turn came to get the shot, the concerned nurse did not check his case papers nor inform him about the vaccine dose administered. She assumed he was there for an ARV shot and gave him the jab.

"The nurse and the medical officer should have informed the patient about the vaccine being administered and should have checked the case papers before giving any vaccine," he added.

Malvi informed that such negligence in any of its healthcare centres would not be ignored. "We have suspended both of them. The patient has been kept under the supervision of the doctor, his condition is fine now."