Folic Acid dose at govt-run child care centre leaves 11 ill; Five hospitalised

Mumbai, Aug 29: Five children, of the 11 who fell ill, at an Anganwadi in Maharashtra had to be hospitalised after a dose of folic acid. The incident took place at an Anganwadi at Sogaon in Thane district.

The children reportedly started vomiting after being administered the folic acid, and the health department's probe has revealed that the cause could be excess dose on an empty stomach. Shahpur tehsildar (revenue official) Ravindra Baviskar, as per a PTI report, said that after taking the dose, the children started vomiting. Five of them were shifted to Shahpur rural hospital and were undergoing treatment, he said.

The health department was probing the cause of illness which could have been excess dose or taking it on empty stomach, he said.

Folic acid is needed for the proper development of the human body. It is involved in producing the genetic material called DNA and in numerous other bodily functions. Folic acid does not occur naturally in food but is often added to refined grain products. Natural food sources of folate include liver, legumes and green vegetables.

In March this year, one toddler died and 15 kids fell ill after they were administered botched vaccination at the Urban Health Centre located in Hyderabad's Nampally. Last year in April, even children were shifted to a government hospital after they allegedly consumed Albendazole tablets at an Anganwadi Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal.

In a similar incident, a teenage girl student of a BMC-run Urdu medium school in Mumbai died of suspected poisoning from a medicine dose while at least 30 others were taken ill.