Tuesday, 18 April 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The State Health department started a massive drive to administer deworming medicine to 38 lakh children on the occasion of National Deworming Day on Monday.
The programme was initiated by the Health minister Dhan Singh Rawat virtually at BS Negi government Inter College Gujrada, Dehradun. Speaking on the occasion, he said that on April 20 , a mop up day would be organised in all the 13 districts in which all the left out children would be given medicine. In the massive drive all the children in the State of the age group 1 to 19 would be administered Albendazole tablets. He said that the campaign is being organised in all private educational institutes and the slums. The minister said that the State health department has so far held 13 deworming campaigns. He said that the government now wants to move ahead on the path of healthy Uttarakhand by administering deworming medicines to 100 per cent children.
The Raipur MLA Umesh Sharma ‘Kau’, the director of National Health Mission (NHM) Dr Saroj Naithani, director of medical health Dr Sunita Tamta and others were present on the occasion.
In the campaign children between the age of one to two years would be given half a tablet while children aged between two to 19 years would be administered one tablet each. The helminthic worms are the cause of malnutrition and retarded growth in a large number of children. The helminths are the parasites that absorb nutrition from the body tissues and induce malnutrition which adversely affect growth of the body and apart from physical growth the worm also affects mental growth of the individual. The medical experts are of the view that deworming helps in increasing attendance of students’ up to 25 percent in the schools. The helminthic infection occurs by defecating in the open, walking barefooted, keeping low personal hygiene and eating infected food. The symptoms of the disease are retarded growth, anaemia, and loss of appetite, stomach ache, vomiting and irregular bowels. The health department has kept the 108 ambulance service and the teams of the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) on alert to meet any emergency during the campaign.
