Thirty school children have been hospitalized in the far eastern Primorye region after receiving excessive doses of tuberculin during a tuberculosis screening at their local secondary school, regional prosecutors said.
A mother of two of the victims said that children from the fifth to ninth classes, which puts them between the ages of 10 and 14, were given the injection, Interfax reported Wednesday.
"They haven't told us what happened to the children. They aren't letting the parents in to see the children in the hospital," she said. "It was terrible to watch how the children got sick right in front of us, they turned red, complained of pain, said that their arms were going numb."
The children were hospitalized due to headaches and swellings at the injection sites but are presently in stable condition, a spokeswoman from the regional Prosecutor General's Office said.
A pediatrician and nurse from the Yakolevsky central district hospital administered the test Monday to 45 children in the small town of Novosysoyevka, although the children's parents had not consented to the procedure, nor had they even been notified, investigators said.
By Tuesday, two children felt poorly enough to be sent to the hospital, prompting regional law enforcement, health, and emergency services to send representatives to the town.
Both the Prosecutor General's Office and regional investigators are looking into the actions of the hospital's staff to determine if there was any criminal misconduct involved.
