Only 8M kids dewormed

Only half of the targeted 16 million children have been reached by health authorities during Wednesday’s National School Deworming Day (NSDD).

In a press briefing, Department of Health (DOH) spokesperson Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy said a total of 8,108,979 had been dewormed in participating public schools as part of the agency’s nationwide campaign.

But DOH Undersecretary Vicente Belizario said the 8.1 million was only a partial figure as the DOH was still waiting for more reports from their local offices.

On Wednesday, the DOH launched the National School Deworming Day in a bid to rid some 16 million school-aged children of soil-transmitted helminthiasis.

Belizario said the agency would be conducting mop-up operations in areas where deworming efforts had not been completed.

“Within one week, there will be mopping out operations to reach the 16 million mark,” said Belizario.

The DOH said the students who were hospitalized after taking deworming tablets experienced normal side effects during the process of eliminating intestinal parasites.