Parents sceptical of giving government’s deworming medicine to kids

BENGALURU: Schools willing to participate in the National Deworming mission launched by the State Government are sceptical that parents will not get their children to be administered with Albendazole tablets given by the government.

Most of the schools have sent formal letters to parents, seeking permission to administer the tablet to their wards, however, according to few schools in the city, most parents have rejected it or have told that the child would be given the dose after consulting their paediatricians.

“We contacted parents and talked to them about giving de-worming medicines to their children, but they refused as most of the kids had already taken their dose. So we might return the left over medicines so that they could be given to the needy,” principal of a private school in Koramangala said.

Meanwhile, a parent said the best thing to do would be to create awareness on the importance of deworming.“Parents get sceptical with anything that is given by the government. With so many cases of children falling ill after polio vaccinations or any such medicine, it’s scary to give these medicines to my children. I prefer to do it with the advice of her doctor,” said Samaprabha S N, a parent.

While the medicine is given to children aged 1 and 19, to combat parasitic worm infections, the  preschool and school-going children, children aged one and two are given half a tablet of Albendazole (400mg), crushed and mixed in drinking water, Dr Veena V working with the State Health Department for the project said.

2.5 crore children to be de-wormed on Friday

Bengaluru: A total of 2.5 crore students between the ages of 1 and 19 from 75,000 government and 65,000 private schools will be de-wormed as part of National Deworming Day on Friday. Karnataka has 49 per cent prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths infection. Worms can cause anaemia and malnutrition, thereby impairing mental and physical development. District and taluk-level inter-departmental officials were trained by  officials via video conference for this. Anganwadi teachers have been trained too.

ITI students to be covered under drive

Mangaluru: The district Health Department will cover more than 5 lakh children between the age group of 1 and 19 in the district during its biannual deworming drive on February 8.  This year, following an appeal from the public, students of ITI colleges will also be included in the deworming drive, District Health Officer Ramakrishna Rao told presspersons at the district health office on Wednesday.  Rao said the suggestion to include the ITI students under the drive was forwarded to the government, which gave its nod.