Gaya, July 17: A five-year old boy died today after being administered a Vitamin A dose at the anganwadi centre at Sumiran Bigha village.

The victim, Raushan Kumar, was found unconscious around 1pm at the anganwadi centre under Atri police station. He was administered a dose of Vitamin A at the centre around 10am with 21 other kids. He passed away on the way to Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital.

The other 21 children administered the dose at Sumiran Bigha anganwadi centre are fit. Nevertheless, check- up of all them was conducted at the Atri primary health centre.

District magistrate Balamurugan D., civil surgeon Krishna Ballabh Prasad Singh and district immunisation officer Surendra Choudhary rushed to the village after the death of Raushan.

Quoting the district magistrate, Gaya district spokesman Dhiraj Narayan Sudhanshu said the cause of the boy’s death could be ascertained only after the arrival of the post-mortem report.

If the death has been caused by the Vitamin A dose, a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh would be provided to the kin of the deceased.

The four-day campaign to administer Vitamin A to children started today across the district. There is a target to administer the dose to around eight lakh children.

Nearly two lakh kids were administered the dose today, a health department official said, adding that there had been no complain from any other corner of the district.

Pesticide found

Sulphas powder (pesticide) was found in a government middle school at Nagriyaman village under Khisersarai block of the district.

Ritik Roshan, a student of class VII, saw the packet on a bench in the classroom of Standard IV and handed it over to the headmaster.

Gaya midday meal in-charge Md Shafique said an FIR had been lodged with Khisersarai police station against unknown persons in this regard.