A large number of schoolgoing children were found to be anaemic in a massive screening conducted by the Medical & Health Department, under Paderu division in Alluri Sitarama Raju (ASR) district.
In November, authorities screened over 39,215 students from 1,326 schools under 64 Primary Health Centre (PHCs), in which 25,835 children were found to be anaemic. While 12,278 were found to be suffering from mild anaemia and 13,019 students were moderately anaemic, 538 of them were found to be severely anaemic.
As per the officials, screening is still going on in nearly 244 schools, and it is yet to be started in nearly 250 schools. Over 30,000 students are yet to be screened, they said.
Collector Sumit Kumar has conducted a review meeting and asked authorities to initiate steps. He has asked the principals of various residential schools and ashrams to get reports of anaemia through the Mandal Education Officer (MEOs) and then ensure the students were given medication without fail. He has also directed the authorities to inform parents about their children’s anaemia severity.
Speaking to The Hindu, District Medical & Health Officer Jamal Basha said that the main reason for anaemia among the children in the Agency is due to nutritional deficiencies, non-consumption foods rich in iron-rich food and vitamins. He said that for mild and moderate cases of anaemia, they were providing two tablets of iron folic acid – morning and night. Similarly for severe cases, iron sucrose is being provided and for extremely severe cases, blood transfusion should be done, he said.
“If the students’ condition does not improve by providing iron sucrose and blood transfusion, we would go for sickle cell testing. Hopefully, such severe cases may not arise, as medication and proper diet are being provided without fail and a strict watch is being kept on the students by both the teachers as well as the PHC staff,” he said.
He added that after every three months, tests would be conducted on the students to check anaemia severity without fail.
He added that earlier, severe anaemia cases had to be shifted to King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam to test for sickle cell anaemia. Now, the State government has sanctioned ₹15 lakh for medical equipment that would help in diagnosing anaemia, and it is now available in Paderu, Mr. Sumit Kumar said.
