KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 — Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that more tests must be done before the cause of death of Revnesh Kumar can be determined.
The death of the 13-year-old occurred 18 days after he received his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on January 16.
Khairy’s comments came after a meeting with Revnesh’s parents Naresh Kumar Lachmenou and Vijayarani Govindan, during which it was agreed that all necessary steps would be taken by the ministry to ascertain the cause of death.
Also present during the meeting were Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and Serdang Hospital forensic specialist Dr Emizam Mohamadon.
“The results of the autopsy findings and all tests that have been conducted so far, including the histological examination, will be presented and discussed among forensic experts at a peer-review session on March 7, 2022 for confirmation,” Khairy said in a statement today.
“The post-mortem report and all the results of subsequent tests will also be submitted to the parents of the deceased after the completion of the peer-review session.
“At the same time, the Health Ministry also plans to conduct additional tests on tissue samples, which may need to be sent abroad for further analysis. I have given my personal commitment to ensuring this matter is followed up on immediately.”
Khairy also pledged to issue updates on the case from time to time and urged the public to respect the family’s privacy as well as to stop spreading fake news related to the death of the teenager.
Yesterday, Khairy said that he would meet Revnesh’s parents and also show them the report by the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry’s (Mosti) Chemistry Department on the death of their son.
Revnesh was reported by the New Straits Times (NST) to have died on February 3, 18 days after receiving his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on January 16 at Klinik Kesihatan in Presint 18, Putrajaya.
According to NST’s February 21 news report, he died after collapsing inside a lift while on his way to a karate lesson.
His father Naresh rushed his son to Kajang Hospital where the latter was pronounced dead.
The newspaper also reported his parents as saying the boy was an active and healthy child who did not have any health problems since birth.
