TN health minister inaugurates National Deworming Day campaign in Velachery
Health minister said that the deworming programme was first launched in India at the Government Higher Secondary School in Velachery, Chennai, where deworming tablets were administered to students of corporation schools and government schools in Chennai.
Credit: Health minister Ma Subramanian X handle
CHENNAI: Health minister Ma Subramanian inaugurated the National Deworming Day campaign at the Government Higher Secondary School in Velachery on Monday. The deworming tablets are given to the school students and mothers every year in two phases.
Health minister said that the deworming programme was first launched in India at the Government Higher Secondary School in Velachery, Chennai, where deworming tablets were administered to students of corporation schools and government schools in Chennai.
The program was initiated under the guidance of the then-Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Kalaignar, and was later expanded across Tamil Nadu by the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in 2011. In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded the program across India.
Deworming tablets, Albendazole, are being distributed at 116,887 centers, including 46,138 government schools, 12,201 private schools, 2,109 government colleges and 54,439 Anganwadi centers. A total of 1,30,000 personnel, including Anganwadi workers, health workers, ASHA workers, and government school teachers and college professors, are involved in this deworming programme.
The program aims to benefit 2.69 crore people, including 2.15 crore children and young adults under the age of 19, and 54.67 lakh women aged between 20 and 30. If anyone misses the tablet distribution on Monday, they will be given the tablets during the mop-up camps on February 17.
