Cholera killed pupils, not deworming pills – Ogun commissioner

Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, on Thursday denied that deworming pills were responsible for the death of two pupils in the state.

Coker, who spoke in Abeokuta, said the   deworming drugs being administered on school-age children in 14 local government areas in the state are in no way poisonous.

• TB cases complicated by COVID-19, says Buhari
• Hisbah commander ‘diverted’ COVID-19 palliatives meant for staff

The pupils  – Omolaso Keyede (aged 8, primary two) and Eniola Oyeyemi (aged 9, primary 4) who were pupils of St James African Church Nursery and Primary School, Idi – Ape, Abeokuta, died on Wednesday morning after reported hours of stooling and vomiting.

Daily Trust gathered that they had taken deworming drugs during the school hours on Tuesday only to fall ill in the evening.

The development sparked off speculations that the hapless pupils might have died from the complications arising from the deworming drugs they took in the  school.

Reacting, Coker said the same drug taken by the victims were administered on 249 pupils of the said school out of which two children who lived within the  same compound were said to be  stooling and vomiting on getting home.

Coker disclosed that these signs were not part of the symptoms of side effects of the deworming drugs.