Bengaluru. May 26 (DHNS): Two newborn babies died at a private hospital in Yelahanka here on Monday evening following suspected drug reaction after they were given a dose of polio, BCG and Hepatitis B vaccination.

A baby boy and a baby girl, born at Shushrusha Nursing Home in Yelahanka Old Town, were administered the vaccination within 24 hours of birth.

The baby girl was born to Chaitra Narendra, a resident of Sadahalli in Devanahalli taluk of Bengaluru Rural district, around 10.30 am on Monday. The baby boy was delivered by Aruna, wife of one of the hospital employee and Yelahanka resident, at 3.30 pm on Monday. Around 4 pm, Dr C N Reddy, peadiatrician attended the two infants and instructed the staff nurse to administer the medicine. Within 30 minutes after the vaccination, the babies turned blue and were shifted to ICU. The babies died due to respiratory attack, the hospital’s administrator C Nagaraj said.

Nagaraj said that a fresh stock of medicine was opened on Monday and the two babies were the first to be administered the dose.

Polio and BCG vaccination drugs are produced by Serum Institute, which supplies them across the country. Hepatitis B vaccination drug used by the hospital was manufactured by Shantha Biotech, he said.

“As per practice, the vaccination was given, but there must have been a drug reaction. The doctors tried very hard to revive the babies, but they died due to respiratory attack,” Nagaraj added.

He said that the hospital informed the police about the incident immediately. The police have seized the medicines.

Meanwhile, there was tension at the hospital as a large number of people gathered there. However, no untoward incident was reported. The Yelahanka police have registered a case of medical negligence on complaints filed by the two families. The bodies have been shifted to Ambedkar Medical College Hospital for postmortem, the police said.