With the objective of preventing the transmission of communicable diseases to students of Panchayat union primary and middle schools, an intestinal sterilisation programme was held on Saturday covering workers at all the 1,294 noon meal centres in the district.
Being undertaken under the State Government’s communicable diseases prevention campaign, this initiative covered 1,100 noon meal cooks and 1,200 noon meal helpers who serve more than 1.25 lakh schoolchildren every day, according to Deputy Director of Health Services R. Damodharan.
The programme was organised jointly by the district administration and the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
Besides administering medicine to combat intestinal worms and infections such as ‘Amoebiasis’ and ‘Giardiasis,’ the workers were also asked whether they had any other ailments for which they were given medical advice. This was being done simultaneously to all workers to break the transmission chain. Collector M. Karunagaran inaugurated the camp.
