Monday, September 08, 2008 City suspends spraying after 2 students fall ill
ALL mist-spraying activities for dengue prevention in Cebu City schools were suspended starting yesterday, following the hospitalization of two high school students exposed to chemicals.
City Councilor Gerardo Carillo said he gave instructions to stop the spraying until they can coordinate with the City Schools Division and the City Health Department (CHD) on the schedule.
A meeting has been set for today and on Friday to finalize a schedule on when the spraying can be done.
Until then, no spraying activity will be done in schools, Carillo said yesterday.
He also called for an investigation after learning of reports that a CHD team insisted on spraying insecticide at the Zapatera Elementary School despite the presence of students there.
“We will wait for the initial report tomorrow to find out what really happened. An investigation has to be made so we will know what went wrong. In the meantime, we have suspended spraying activities,” Carillo said in a phone interview.
In a separate interview, Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) Chief Dr. Myrna Go said the two students are in stable condition at the hospital and may be discharged today.
The two started coughing and vomiting and complained of throat irritation after being exposed to the Maxipag lamda chemicals used in the spraying last Saturday.
“They are already in stable condition. It was not really established whether or not the symptoms were due to the chemicals. But they got well after receiving intravenous and oxygen treatment, so I guess the chemicals could be blamed,” Go told Sun.Star Cebu.
Carillo said he will ask the CHD to investigate what procedures were followed and what precautionary measures were taken during the spraying when the team saw that there were students.
For his part, Edgar Alfanta of the CHD’s sanitary inspection division said the CHD team had the discretion to cancel the spraying.
Spraying activities in schools are scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays, when students are supposedly not around.
“The CHD personnel already know what to do when there are people in the area. They’re supposed to ask them to leave, or they can cancel the spraying,” Alfanta said.
He visited the students last Saturday and briefed the CCMC doctors on the composition of the insecticide so they would know what antidote to give the patients.
“The distributor of Maxipag briefed us before that there will be minor side effects when a person is exposed to the chemicals, but they said it’s not detrimental or fatal to humans. As we experienced, the effects include coughing, sinusitis and throat irritations. It can also trigger asthma, that is why we are always careful,” Alfanta added. (LCR)
