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| Deworming drug is safe |
2/13/2007 |
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Ho, Feb. 12, GNA - Dr John Eleeza, Ho Municipal Director of Health, on Monday said 91Mebendazole 500mg'' drug which is being used in the nationwide pupils de-worming exercise was a normal de-wormer. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency about the drug, he said de-wormers were normally not given to children under two years and that if the drug were inappropriate for the age bracket of pupils it would have been indicated.
He was reacting to reports that some of the pupils suffered serious reaction after they were administered the dewormer.
Dr Eeeza said health personnel were monitoring the exercise and that the Ghana Health Service had trained teachers to administer the drug.
He said it might be a government policy that teachers administered the drug as part of the School Health Education Programme. Dr Eleeza said some of the pupils might not have eaten at the time the drugs were administered to them.
Investigations by the Ghana News Agency indicated that pupils were informed earlier about the exercise and told to tell their parents to give them breakfast at home. They were also asked to bring their own cups to school on Monday.
Some teachers who claimed anonymity said some parents might have failed to feed their children as instructed and might have given them money for breakfast.
The teachers said pupils who were not given breakfast might have given the wrong information to the teachers out of fear or because they felt shy to admit to having been in school without breakfast.
Mobile phone re-charge and call points seemed to have made windfalls from the panicky situation as anxious parents overwhelmed them in efforts to contact the Head teachers of their wards'' schools. At the time that the GNA was interviewing the headmaster of Kabore JSS, Mr Fred Akpa, his two mobile phones and a line phone were ringing simultaneously and hardly had he finished talking to one parent before other calls came in.
Officials of the Volta Regional Branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers said they were similarly inundated with calls from anxious parents.
Meanwhile the Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council, Regional Directorates of the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Education Service would address a joint a Press Conference on Tuesday February 13, "to clarify issues" in connection with the de-worming exercise in the region, according to a statement signed by Mr Richard Ameyedowo, Public Relations Officer of the VRCC. 12 Feb 07Source:
GNA
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