The Ogun State Government says that th deworming drugs being administered on school-age children in 14 local government areas in the state are in no way poisonous.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, who made this known in the wake of the news making rounds that two school children in Abeokuta died from complications occasioned by the drugs, said the same drug was administered on her alongside other top government functionaries at the flag-off of the exercise.
She said that the drugs were administered on 249 pupils of the said school out of which two children who lived within the same compound were said to be stooling and vomiting on getting home. Coker disclosed that these signs were not part of the symptoms of side effects of the deworming drugs.
The Commissioner who paid a condolences visit to the house of the deceased children on Wednesday, said that she pleaded for the release of the corpse which had not been buried and ordered for an investigation. ” It was discovered that the episode of Gastro enteritis suffered by the two children suggests a possible water borne disease, cholera.
“Investigation led by the Ogun State Commissioner for Health along with officials of the Federal Ministry of Health and Abeokuta South Local Government, revealed that the children died of severe case of vomiting and diarrhea.
“The government in its bid to stop the spread has put in place community sensitisation and advocacy. We have sent Cholera alert to all health facilities in the state and engaged in prepositioning of materials for case management in government hospitals,” Coker noted.
