Govt allays fears about iron pills
Following recent incidents of children falling ill after taking iron and folic acid tablets under its new national programme, the Union health ministry clarified that there was nothing to panic as they had only shown common transitory side affects of the pills.
Allaying fears of any ill-effects of the tablets, officials said abdomen pain, nausea and vomiting are just “mild side-effects” and the Union health ministry stands by its programme in view of its long-term benefit in helping tackle high incidents of anaemia.
The iron and folic acid supplementation programme has been underway in some states from last year.
The programme was introduced in the national capital last week.
Around 200 children in Delhi and another 130 in Solapur district of Maharashtra reportedly had severe stomach ache and vomiting after taking the tablets.
Some children were even admitted to hospital.
However, Ms Anuradha Gupta, additional secretary and mission director, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), said, “The IFA (iron and folic acid) tablets are very safe, but there could be a minuscule number of cases where there is some discomfort. In the long term it will help in tackling the problem of anaemia.”
Ms Gupta further added that all the tablets were from fresh stock which were manufactured in June and the expiry date is in 2015.
“There is no reason of getting scared. These tablets are very safe and effective. Not only students, few teachers who took the tablets had similar complaints and children who were admitted in hospitals were discharged within few hours,” added Ms Gupta.
Around 18 lakh pills were administered in Delhi, 15 lakh in schools and 3 lakh in Anganwadi centres.
Sidharth Ramji, professor of paediatrics at the Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, who was part of the fact-finding team for the north Delhi area where 200 children fell sick, however, said that no reason had been found for the children to have the symptoms. “In all the schools and anganwadi centres, strict guidelines had been followed while administering the tablets,” he said.
Significantly, the ministry said that experts had carried out a study in 11 states on 27 million children between 2005-2010 before the programme launch. According to studies conducted in India, 5-15 per cent of people given the IFA supplementation can report side effects. “In our programme, less than 0.1 percent of people have reported side effects,” she added.
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