DAVAO CITY – A public school in the Island Garden City of Samal joined the National School Deworming Day held last Wednesday.
San Agustin Elementary school is one of the 38,656 public elementary school in the country who participated in the program dubbed “Oplan Goodbye Bulate” spearheaded by the Department of Health.
The DOH said the event aims to alleviate the problem of soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH), which is common among children ages 5 to 12 years old who are also the target of the program.
Pupils simultaneously took the tablet called Albendazole or Mebendazole, a drug that treats STH Wednesday morning.
The same medicine allegedly caused stomach ache, vomiting, dizziness and diarrhea among thousands of school children in Dipolog City. The medicines taken by the children were reportedly expired after a parent showed to media the package of the medicine administered to children with “Dec ‘12” indicated on its expiry date.
The DOH was quick to deny that the medicines have expired.(davaotoday.com)
