Gurugram: Health teams to go door-to-door to administer deworming tablets

With no clarity on re-opening of schools in Gurugram, the district health department has planned a reach out and will hold deworming campaign for students aged between

With no clarity on re-opening of schools in Gurugram, the district health department has planned a reach out and will hold deworming campaign for students aged between one and 19 years by conducting house-to-house visits.

HT Image

More than four lakh students are likely to be covered in these visits, which will take place between October 12 and October 20. The challenge, according to officials, will be rationing its workforce of healthcare workers, most of whom are already involved at the ground level in fighting the spread of Covid-19. Currently, teams of Accredited Social Health Activists ( ASHAs), Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs) and Anganwadi workers are involved in visiting home-isolated Covid patient every alternate day to check on them.

Officials clarified that the health workers will not be visiting any of the 96 identified Covid-19 containment zones in the district to administer the deworming tablet – Elvendazone. Elvendazone is known to prevent the harmful effects of parasitic intestinal worm infection like roundworms, hookworms among others that are transmitted through soil contaminated with fecal matter. Chronic worm infestation leads to under-nutrition and anaemia in children.

Before the outbreak of Covid, the deworming campaign had been carried out for a couple of days in schools and anganwadi centres and covered pre-school children and those aged between 1-19 years.However, it is for the first time, district health officials said, that the deworming campaign will last for a whole nine days as teams go from door-to-door .

“For the first two days of the campaign, we will observe the working of the ground teams as it is for the first time that they will be visiting households on a mass scale to administer deworming tablets. Also, if there is any update on reopening of schools from October 15 in the state, then we will tweak our coverage strategy accordingly,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer. He said that since the department has limited health staff, they will ask the administration to provide additional manpower by involving volunteers from non-government organisations (NGOs).

The nodal team for the campaign said that preparations are underway.

Sandeep Singh, adolescent health councillor, said, “At the primary health care centre (PHC) level, ASHAs and ANMs, already have certain number of households under them which they have to visit for health programmes. Based on that they have prepared a list of children, who are to be administered the deworming tablets.”

According to Sangeeta Rathi, deputy civil surgeon and nodal officer for the deworming campaign, at present the district has a workforce of more than 2500 health workers, who will cover 461,534 children. “While administering the tablets, ASHAs and ANMs will also enquire about the health of the other family members to check for symptoms of Covid-19.

“Any child with Influenza Like Illness (ILI) will not be administered the medicine and instead will be referred to the nearby PHC for a test. Each ASHA worker will cover over 1,000 households in the 9 days,” said Rathi.

Yadav, on the other hand, said, “Through house to house visits, the teams might be able to trace new Covid-19 cases as well as they will be enquiring about the health of other family members for Covid-like symptoms