Twenty two children took ill at a Jhansi village after they were administered a deworming medicine under the Aasheervad Child Health Guarantee Scheme of the Uttar Pradesh government.
On Tuesday, a little after being given the medicines, the children started vomiting and complained of nausea. The incident took place in the Durgapur village of Babina area, 313 km from state capital Lucknow.
The children were rushed to a nearby medical facility, even as parents stormed the health centre and roughed up the team of health department officials who administered the medicines.
The medical team was held hostage, and released hours later on the intervention of police. The district magistrate of Jhansi, Tanveer Zafar Ali, has ordered a probe.
The scheme has been put on hold for a month, officials told IANS.
Doctors said that the 22 children who complained of nausea, stomach pain, headache and vomiting were later discharged.
The children were given the medicine Tuesday under a scheme launched in February this year by the Akhilesh Yadav government to address the health needs of the nearly six crore children in Uttar Pradesh's rural areas, ranging in age from two to 18 years.