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UNICEF’s role in Assam is shrouded in mystery. Not only has
it been responsible for the death of at least 22 children and sending another
12,000 to hospital with headache, vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhoea and fever;
but also it has been collaborating with the police to give a human face to their
counter-insurgency campaigns.
On Nov.11, 2001the UNICEF conducted the third round (of the
five rounds) of the Pulse Vitamin A programme in collaboration with the Assam
State government, amongst its 31.4 lakh children in the age group one to five.
No sooner had the drops been administered that thousands of children began
falling seriously ill. And as thousands of children were writhing in agony at
hospitals in many parts of Assam, with many dying, the police and UNICEF were
jointly celebrating Children’s day on Nov.14. The two collaborated to launch the
much-publicized ‘Project Aashwas’, " to give children of this
militancy-infested state an opportunity to bloom in an atmosphere of tranquility
and social order". Yes, the tranquility of the graveyard is probably what
the police and UNICEF had in mind.
And as the UNICEF and the State government sought to cover up
their criminal negligence, the angered parents went on a rampage attacking
doctors and civic officials involved in the campaign. It has sparked off a
massive fear psychosis, with parents panic stricken for the safety of their
children. Within days both the UNICEF and the State government came out with
their ‘inquiry’ reports giving a clean-chit to the campaign, stating that the
cause of death was not the drops, but other natural factors. What is astounding
is that these ‘findings’ were reported well before the post-mortem report and
even the viscera report were produced. Yet, the government stopped the campaign
halfway through! Till today, action has not been taken against a single person.
First, the UNICEF reported that the deaths were caused not by
defective Vitamin A, but due to administration of an over-dose. Even if this was
true, unlike the earlier two rounds, where a 2 ml spoon was used, a 5 ml cap was
provided. The normal dose prescribed is 1 ml for a one-year child, and two ml
for over one year. For this change in the size of the spoon, resulting in an
overdose, the UNICEF alone must bear responsibility. Besides, till today there
has been no report of the quality of the samples of Vitamin A sent for
examination. It appears that this too has been quietly suppressed.
In addition, the entire project seems a fraud pushed by the
UNICEF to further the sales of a pharmaceutical TNC. Dr.Kapil of the AIIMS in
Delhi said that the UNICEF pushed this ‘campaign’ even after the Centre had
proposed that Vitamin A be merely part of the immunization programme. It was
felt that in India the conditions did not warrant a campaign against Vitamin A
deficiency. In fact, the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) had
identified 18 districts in the country, including Nagaon of Assam (where most of
the cases were reported), where Vitamin A deficiency was not a public health
problem.
It has been suggested that "commercial interests" are
involved, as there is only one company in the world that produces this vitamin.
It is well known that these TNCs have been using the Indian people as guinea
pigs to try their new drugs; have been dumping, at huge cost, unwanted medicine
in the country through such fake projects; and have been raking in billions of
profits through the new patent regime. The UNICEF, in collaboration with Indian
government officials, is a prime agent of these pharmaceutical giants.
The people of Assam must put on trial for murder, top
officials of the UNICEF, the TNC involved and those government officials who
collaborated in the project.
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