In Chennai, the kids could get many infectious diseases warns doctors
Posted on: 29/May/2019 9:49:14 AM
In a few days of time, the school students would be saying good bye to the summer vacations and schools would be re-opened. It is expected that the school days would be hot and humid. It was pointed out that girl students would not be drinking adequate water in the schools because of the water scarcity.
The point revealed by the doctors was that if the hygiene and sanitation standards go down then the children might be at risk of getting many infectious diseases. It is worthy to note that on an average a Chennai city school has got 1500 students. According to the teachers and administrators, the absenteeism among the girl students might be high.
It was pointed out by former Chennai city health officer, Dr. Kuganatham that this situation is as bad as floods. He then spoke about how the outbreak of waterborne diseases and UTI among kids would be present in huge numbers. To re- open the schools, without making sure that the students have adequate water supply would be disastrous. The health of the school children is very important.
The important point is sanitary inspectors and health officials must inspect the schools in Chennai and must inform the ground situation to the government. It is important that all toilets in the schools are clean with running water. This was also confirmed by the former health officer. He then shed light on the fact that there must be atleast one urinal for every 40 students and one toilet for every 30 children in the schools and this was as per the standard requirements.
As per Dr. Janani Shankar who is the president of Indian Academy of Paediatrics (Chennai chapter), the children inspite of getting water from their homes were prone to diarrhoeal diseases and typhoid because of water contamination. She added that lack of water in schools could make it worse. Later she spoke about how parent teachers association and school managements must take proactive steps to make sure that they prevent the diseases outbreak.
According to Dr. K. Kolandaswamy, director of public health, the state public health department has given instructions to the local bodies to inspect the schools and submit report. It is important to mention that the local bodies would be supplying water to the schools on priority. It was pointed out by health minister, Mr. C. Vijaya Bhaskar that his department was working with the school education department and metro water to ensure hygiene and sanitation are not compromised.
