12 school students fall sick after having deworming tablets

AJMER: Twelve students of a private school in Saradhana village on Thursday fell ill after they took deworming tablets in school. The children are of different standards. They were rushed to JLN Hospital for treatment. Medical and health department said that this is unusual as the medicine is safe but initiated a probe to know the cause of illness in students.
It was the occasion of National Deworming Day and medical and health department arranged to provide tablet Albendazole-400mg to every student of government, private and evening Madrassas of the district. District Reproductive and Child Health Officer Dr Ramlal Choudhary said that arrangements were made to provide the tablet to every school.

But in a private school of Saradhana, about 15 kilometers from Ajmer, this afternoon when students took the tablet they started complaining of vomiting and fell unconsciousness. The school informed their parents and the parents took these children from school and rushed them to JLN Hospital in Ajmer. The parents alleged that no ambulance or vehicle was provided either by school or the medical and health department.

On receiving this information Dr Choudhary reached the hospital and began treating the children. The doctor said that things were in control and these were side effects of the tablet.

Dr Choudhary commented that the tablet was given in almost every school of the the district but no complaint has come from anywhere. "If the complaint has come only from this school then there could be another reason, the department will investigate the reason of such illness." He added that the tablet is safe and tested before given to students.