Sahoo, a student of the Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir here, developed viral Hepatitis-B 35 days after receiving the second dose of Hepatitis-B vaccine on October 25.

To make matters worse, Sahoo had to return from the Capital Hospital here as his parents could not afford a life-saving injection priced at around Rs 4000 and specialised treatment -- his father Narayan Sahoo is a clerk in the Soil Conservation Department.

The NGO which organised the vaccination camp attended by Sahoo has reportedly washed its hands of the affair, while hospital authorities have expressed their inability to provide Sahoo with any help or aid. His father is helpless.

Sahoo's case has brought to light the fallibility of the Hepatitis-B vaccine and put a question mark on the current craze for mass vaccination.

Sahoo was among the 1,100 studentsof the school who were vaccinated in a camp organised by a social service organisation. In November, a doctor advised Sahoo to have the urine and blood tests done after he complained of acute pain in the lower abdomen. The pathological test reports confirmed that his liver had been affected by Hepatitis-B and showed signs of infection.

Sahoo was then referred to the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar where his case was examined by several specialists and cardiologists. The doctors claimed the case to be rare, but not complicated. They opined that Sahoo might have been carrying the virus of Hepatitis-B before immunisation.

Dr Krutibash Parida of Capital Hospital, under whose supervision Sahoo is receiving treatment, said that the Hepatitis-B virus inside the boy's body had already progressed into the incubation period when he was vaccinated.Other doctors have alleged that most of these vaccination camps provide NGOs and pharmaceutical companies who market Hepatitis-B vaccines the opportunity to make a fastbuck.