De-worming drive leaves 11 students ill

NEW DELHI: Eleven students of a Delhi government school were admitted to hospital with symptoms of pain in the abdomen and vomiting after they were administered tablets as part of a de-worming drive. Most of them were discharged by within an hour, said the authorities.
“Though these were mild symptoms, we admitted them for mandatory observation as directed by the government. By evening, the symptoms had gone and they were discharged,” said a senior doctor at Hindu Rao hospital.Majority of children were students of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in north Delhi’s Vijay Nagar.
Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain said, “Uneasiness and dizziness are part of the medication process, especially for the children who suffer from severe worm problems. If anything happens to the children after being given the de-worming medicine, we have advised the school authorities to admit them in hospital.”
Jain on Wednesday had flagged off the state-wide de-worming campaign for children in schools and anganwadis. As many as 3.7 million children were to have been covered under the drive, which was conducted at 3,032 schools and 11,500 anganwadis on Thursday. A mop-up day for the campaign is scheduled for April 20.
As part of the programme, Albendazole was administered to school-age children in government and government-aided schools.