newsfaze: 12 students hospitalized after administration of drug by school authority in Ebonyi

According to sources, students from Ginger international school in ebonyi have been hospitalized after administeration of drugs by school authority. they are 12 students in number confirmed by the police.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the students became
partly unconscious after being administered with the drugs.
They were rushed to the Federal Teaching Hospital (FETHA) Abakaliki, and Police clinic in the state for immediate medical attention.

The command’s spokesman, DSP George Okafor, who confirmed the incident on Saturday, said that the proprietor and head of the school had been invited for questioning.

HIS WORDS, “We are going to investigate the matter thoroughly to unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident,”.
NAN reports that anxious relative of the students were at the “Accident and Emergency Unit of FETHA,’’ where majority of them were admitted to ascertain their condition.
Sources said the anti-hermetic tablets which expert say were used for de-worming was administered on the students, aged between 12 and 15 years.

Mr Sam Igwe and Mrs Bilikisu Ahmed, parents of some of the victims said that the drugs were administered on their wards without their consent. This is really bad for a school to administer drugs to their students without the consent of their parents.

Chief Medical Director of FETHA, Dr Emeka Ogah, said that the drug sample had been collected and sent to the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for analysis.

“The students are responding to treatment as we would do our best to get them fit again,” he said.
Prof. John Eke, State Commissioner for Education described the incident as embarrassing.
“The state government would come up with a policy that would make it mandatory for school managements to secure approval from the ministry before administering drugs on pupils and students,’’ he said.
Dr Daniel Umezurike, State Commissioner for Health said that the drugs were donated by one of the foreign development partners of the state which had been assisting in disease eradication.
“These drugs are administered intermittently to de-worm students but we assure the public that the incident would be investigated and situation brought under control,” he said.

This is just carelessness of a school. We can only hope that the students come back perfectly alright, . A school can be sued for this reason and also be made infamous too.