Parents
still wary on mass deworming, DOH assures pills are “very safe”
By
Dominic I. Sanchez
ZAMBOANGA
CITY, Jan. 28 (PIA) – There are still parents here
who are hesitant to have their children dewormed during the Department of
Health’s (DOH) nationwide simultaneous schools deworming day yesterday, but
health officials are urging them to avail themselves of the free “safe and
effective” drugs.
“We
have already informed the parents well [on the deworming], but still many
parents did not give the consent for their children to be dewormed,” Mr. Ronald
Aba-a, principal of Tetuan Central School said during the deworming session
yesterday.
Aba-a
revealed that for out of some 4,000 pupils from kinder to grade 6, only 1,009
pupils were given consent by their parents to be dewormed.
Days
prior to the mass deworming, school officials had been informing parents on its
benefits and reminded them to have their children eat their breakfast before
taking the drug to avoid any side effects like stomachache, dizziness, etc.
According
to Parents Teachers Association (PTA) president Mannix Dalipe, the most
probable reason for the non-consent was the “psychological effect” borne out of
an incident in Zamboanga del Norte during the last mass deworming in July last
year. False news had spread that the DOH had administered expired Albendazole
drugs. However, despite the efforts to promote deworming, many parents still
refused.
The
DOH has teamed up with the Department of Education (DepEd) and came up with a
mass feeding of arroz caldo prior to the deworming.
“We
are hoping that more parents would have their children dewormed,” said Aba-a.
Meanwhile,
Dr. Agnes Mabalo, division chief of the DOH here expressed optimism that the 85
percent target of schoolchildren woud be achieved at the end of the day. “Last
year, we accomplished 81 percent, hopefully now, we will have better numbers,”
she said.
Dr.
Mabalo stressed that the “medicine is safe, not expired and just arrived from
the central office.” She explained that there are normal side effects
especially to those who already have parasitic infections. Like last year in
Zamboanga del Norte, a mass of pupils vomited and complained of stomachache,
which, according to health officials, were due to the presence of worms.
“There
is no need to worry, especially if your children have already eaten,” she said.
She
explained that the presence of worms inside the children would cause poor
nutrition and poor performance in schools. Deworming would ensure that the
children are purged of worms.
DOH officials
yesterday together with DepEd were closely monitoring the deworming activities
all over the region.
