Some 1000 Indian Students Fall Sick After Taking Tablets In Schools

New Delhi, July 24, IRNA – Around 1,000 students Tuesday fell sick after consuming iron tablets in government schools in several districts of Haryana state and Gurgaon, the satellite city of India’s national capital, Delhi. Nearly 880 students, 150 of them girls, suffered from nausea and complained of stomach ache after consuming iron tablets in government schools in several districts of North Indian state of Haryana. While about hundred students fell ill today after they took iron tablets in government schools at Sohna, Pataudi and Sikenderpur block in Gurgaon. The folic acid (iron) tablets were given to them as part of Haryana Health Departments supplementation programme to combat anaemia, the PTI reported quoting officials as said. There was no major cause for worry as the students had minor side effects after consuming the tablets, the officials said. The students included 150 girls from Jind, they said. Most of the children, who belonged to various districts including Hissar, Jind, Sonipat, Gurgaon and Faridabad, were discharged after treatment, the officials said. Out of 160,000 students who were administered the iron tablets since Monday, a total of 879 were found suffering from side effects such as stomach ache and nausea, a spokesman of the National Rural Health Mission (Haryana) said. Majority of the children did not show the general side effects like vomiting, he said. No student was admitted to any hospital, the spokesman said adding the children were immediately rushed to nearby health facilities and given first aid. The weekly iron folic acid supplementation program started Monday by the National Rural Health Mission in the state. In Hisar district, those who showed symptoms of nausea were students of Class 6th to 10th. Senior district and medical officers rushed to the scene as students were taken to nearby primary health centers and hospitals. The students had complained of pain in the stomach and their condition was not serious, doctors said. In Jind, 150 girl students fell sick after consuming iron tablets in the government school in Nagura village, the officials said. The students suffering from mild side effects would be given sub-normal dose for four weeks to accommodate absorption of iron, the doctors said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the tablets did not suit some children leading to nausea. He said the tablets were administered to the children as part of the national program to check anemia. Meanwhile, in Gurgaon, the students were rushed to Gurgaon civil hospital after they complained of giddiness and pain in abdomen. Around 70 students from Sohna and 15 each from Pataudi and Sikenderpur were brought to the hospital. Most of them were discharged after treatment./end