The fate of the government’s school health initiatives like de-worming hangs in the balance as it might scrap them after the unfortunate death of an 11-year-old girl named Kushbu in Secunderabad on Saturday.
Kushbu died when she choked on her own vomit after she was administered a de-worming tablet at the Marwari Vidya Parishad in Nallagutta. The de-worming programme was undertaken on Friday in all government schools throughout the state. But in some schools the programme continued on Saturday due to various reasons. Additional joint district collector G. Rekha Rani, however, said, there was no official deliberations on this so far. “We will have a review of the programme on Monday,” she said.
It was also noted that in some schools, no auxilliary nurse midwife (ANM) or paramedic was present while students were being given the de-worming tablets. A teacher at the adjacent Government Girls High School, who didn’t want to be named, said, “The nurses weren’t present while the tablets were given to students. They just gave us the tablets and told us to call them or 108 in case of a problem.”
District medical and health officer Dr Ananth Reddy agreed the rule says it is mandatory to have at least one ANM at the school during the programme but it is not possible due to staff shortage. “Each ANM has to handle about three or four schools. So in some places it may not be possible for the ANM to be present,” he said. Teachers are not given first-aid training to handle emergencies. Gover-nment teachers are now given a frivolous first-aid training which involves handing them a first-aid kit and instructions on how to apply ointments on small injuries. A government teacher said, “We had an orientation session six months back. We were taught application of ointments and giving paracetamol tablets to those having fever. For everything else, we were told to contact the CHC.”