First, their height was measured. Then, depending on how many tablets they were supposed to receive, some got three, others two, and others just one.
The idea was to help them stay healthy through a bilharzia prevention and treatment campaign at Government Science Secondary School in Batagarawa, in Katsina State, northern Nigeria. However, shortly after receiving the medication, at least 64 students began to feel unwell: vomiting, abdominal pain and dizziness.
The students were rushed to Ahmadi Rimi General Hospital and Turai Yar’Adua Mother and Child Hospital in Katsina. Some arrived unconscious, according to Auwal Sani, the medical director of the former.
The medication administered was praziquantel, which is routinely distributed on a mass scale as a preventive measure in regions where bilharzia infection is common.
According to the Katsina police, more than 700 students received the treatment over two sessions. The first group was given the medication on Friday, October 24, with no reported complications, while students treated the following Monday began developing symptoms.
According to the investigation, many students had reportedly received the tablets on an empty stomach, at around 11:00 in the morning. Parents and students interviewed said they were not given food either before or after taking the medication.
However, two doctors who spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity raised the possibility of an overdose. One of them described how some students experienced such intense pain that they writhed on the floor. However, that suspicion has not been confirmed by the authorities and, if true, would be a serious allegation, as children would have been involved.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Education, Yusuf Sulaiman Jibia, assured the public that all the affected students had fully recovered and that preparations were already being made for their return to classes. He also promised to investigate what had gone wrong.