Two years after death of 8 patients, dental clinic in Vaniyambadi sealed

A private dental clinic in Vaniyambadi was shut down on Tuesday, as its explanation on the death of eight of its patients in 2023 was found to be "unsatisfactory".

- DHEEPTHI OJ @Tirupattur

The show-cause notice seeking the explanation on the deaths due to neuromelioidosis - a bacterial infection affecting the brain - was sent by joint director of Health and Rural Health Services, V Gnana Meenakshi.

Speaking to TNIE, Meenakshi said the notice was issued to the clinic's dentist S Arivarasan and that she became aware of the issue only recently, after the matter was reported in the media.

The issue resurfaced in the media recently after a study - jointly conducted by CMC Vellore, ICMR-NIE, and the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Public Health - was published in the medical journal The Lancet.