By Moshood Adebayo
Amid controversies that trailed the sudden death of two pupils of a primary school in Abeokuta, the Ogun State government has debunked claims that the pupils died from deworming drugs that were administered on them.
The administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun began the 3-day deworming exercise in 14 council areas of the state on Tuesday.
Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, who made the clarification said the death of the pupils which she described as unfortunate was not occasioned by the deworming drugs administered on them.
She disclosed that the same drug was administered on her alongside other top government functionaries at the flag of the exercise.
According to her, the same set of drugs were administered on other 249 pupils of the same school out of which the deceased pupils who lived within the same compound developed stooling and vomiting on getting home.
The commissioner who paid a condolence visit to the house of the deceased children said 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 Gastroenteritis suffered by the two children suggests a possible water borne disease, cholera.
‘’Investigations 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 sensitization and advocacy. We have sent cholera alerts to all health facilities in the state and engaged in prepositioning of materials for case management in government hospitals’’, Coker stated.
