TOBA TEK SINGH - A committee has been formed to investigate why the condition of dozens of children deteriorated after they swallowed tablets provided by health department teams to eliminate intestinal worms.
The health department team gave tablets to 178 students of Government Primary School of chak 296-GB under health week. As soon as they took the tablets, their condition deteriorated and they felt pain in the stomach while some of them became unconscious.
They were rushed to DHQ Hospital where on receiving information, Punjab Parliamentary Secretary for Population Welfare Amjad Ali Javed, DC Irfan Nawaz Memon, DPO Usman Akram Gondal, Health authority CEO Dr Muhammad Aslam and AC Tabreaz Sadiq Marri also reached and they supervised the treatment of the children.
In the evening all children were discharged from the hospital when they were in stable condition.
Also in Chak 755-GB of Pirmehal, the condition of two children was deteriorated when they took the same tablets. Both minor girls Iqra and Nimra were admitted to Arrouti Rural Health Centre.
Later, the district administration constituted a four member committee to inquire into the incident in which 180 minor students of a village school had suffered abdominal pain and unconsciousness when they took anti-intestinal worm tablets.
The committee members met with the deputy commissioner and health officials to know why the tablets caused reaction to the children. They also visited DHQ Hospital and inquired about the health of four of the children who were still under treatment there. They directed the Health Authority CEO to continue a health camp in the Government Primary School of Chak 296-GB for three days to keep watch on the health of the children.
