Student dies after consuming tablets in TN

Tirunelveli, Oct 10 (UNI) A eleven-year-old student died, while 16 others were hospitalised, minutes after consuming an overdose of chloroquine tablets supplied by a medical team at Panchayat Union Primary School at Vadakku Poolangulam in Alangulam Taluk, today.

Official sources said the medical team from Primary Health Centre (PHC) visited the school, as part of a medical camp to supply chloroquine tablets to prevent malaria. The team supplied nine tablets to each student and advised them to consume one tablet thrice a day for three days.

Some of the students due to oversight consumed all the nine tablets after lunch-break. Minutes later, they swooned. One of them P Selvakumar(11), studying fifth standard died in the school.

Sixteen students were rushed to the Pavurchathiram and Tenkasi Government Hospitals. The condition of S Tamilselvan (11), who was undergoing treatment in Tenkasi GH, was critical.

Tension prevailed in several parts of this district, as the news spread like wildfire. The incident created panic among parents, who stormed the school to ascertain the safety of their wards.

Many educational institutions remained closed on hearing the news.

Meanwhile, the health officials ordered to stop distributing tablets to the students and asked them not not to consume it.

A detailed probe into the episode would only reveal the cause of the death of the student, the sources added.

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