DOH: Deworming tablets not expired

Department of Health (DOH) logo

MANILA – Clarifying untrue reports, the Department of Health (DOH) asserted that none of the de-worming tablets used during the nationwide deworming activity on Wednesday was expired.

“We have already checked all the sources, kaka-deliver lang po nito. Wala pong expired na pampurga na ipinamigay ang DepEd (Department of Education) and DOH officials,” Health Secretary Janette Garin said in a television interview, adding that the tablets were also tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

(We have already checked all the sources, [the deworming pills] were recently delivered. DepEd and DOH officials have not distributed expired pills.)

The deworming tablets were given to almost 16 million school children. Among these, around 400 students from Mindanao were brought to hospitals due to dizziness, stomach aches, vomiting, and diarrhea. There were also some reports of children who later on died after taking the tablets.

“Hindi po totoo ‘yung mga balitang kumalat through text so allow us to appeal to the public na ‘wag po magke-create ng text message na makaka-cause ng panic sa ating mga kabataan at sa ating mga nanay,” Garin said.

(Reports which were passed through text messages are not true so allow us to appeal to the public not to create text messages that will cause alarm to mothers and their children.)

Moreover, the DOH claimed that what the children felt were side effects of the pills.

“It is actually a reaction kapag marami ‘yung bulate ng bata so sasakit ‘yung tiyan nila. ‘Pag mapupuna nila ‘yung dumi, na minsan may kasama na nakikita.

‘Yung iba naman ay itlog lang ‘yung lumalabas, nawawala po yung sakit ng tiyan.

It’s actually the process of de-worming,” Garin explained.

(It is actually a reaction when a child has worms in his stomach, so he will feel stomach ache. If you look at the child’s feces, sometimes you can see [worms in it]. For others, only eggs are seen. The stomach ache will be gone afterwards. It’s actually the process of deworming.)

DOH Undersecretary Vicente Belizario also stressed the benefits of deworming which were greater than the risks of side effects.

“If we deworm them, we eliminate the PPP (pandak, payat, poor performance in school) in exchange for a little discomfort from the side effects. All medications have side effects,” he said.

(If we deworm them, we eliminate the [small, thin, poor performance in school] in exchange for a little discomfort from the side effects. All medications have side effects.)

The DOH, however, acknowledged that there was indeed a student who died but not because of the tablets but because of complications from a congenital heart disease.