The death of eight-year old Saloni, resident of Ramespur village of Kithcha block in Udham Singh Nagar district, on Monday allegedly taken ill after eating Albendazole on National Deworming day has put the health department of the State in a spot. The girl, daughter of one Ram lal was declared dead by the doctors of Sushila Tiwari hospital, Haldwani, on Monday morning. The girl was admitted in the hospital on February 13 when she was referred from Rudrapur Government hospital.
The parents of the girl claimed that their daughter, a Class II student of the village primary school, had taken the deworming medicine on February 10 and again at home later. The girl was brought to Rudrapur CHC on February 12 and was referred to Sushila Tiwari hospital next day.
The Chief Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr A K Pandey, said that the girl was brought to the hospital with convulsions and pneumonia. He said that tests were conducted on the girl when her parents told about probable overdose of Albendazole, which proved wrong. He said that the girl had encephalitis which caused her death.
The Chief Medical Officer of Udham Singh Nagar district, Dr S K Joshi also negated the claims that the girl had fallen ill after taking Albendazole. He said that some students of Khatima block were hospitalized on February 10 after Albendazol was given to them. Dr Joshi claimed that all these students showed symptoms of hysteria and all are relieved from hospital now.
Inquiry sought into deworming incidents
Taking cognizance of the media reports of students taken ill after consuming tablets of Albendazole on National Deworming Day in Udham Singh Nagar district, the Uttarakhand commission for protection of child rights has directed the Director-General (DG) of Health Services, Dr Kusum Narriyal to constitute a comprehensive inquiry in the matter and submit a report.
In the letter, the commission has taken strong exception to the incident as reported by the media and termed it as blatant violation of child rights. The commission appeared particularly peeved over the reported negligence of department officials while administering anti- helminthic drug to the students. Some students of the Government Inter College, Bagha in Khatima of Udham Singh Nagar got ill after the drug was administered to them on the National Deworming day. The locals claimed that the drug induced complication like nausea and vomiting in the schoolchildren.