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Govt Schools to Follow Guidelines Strictly

SHARJAH — The Ministries of Health and Education on Tuesday provided A(H1N1) management guidelines to government schools before the start of the new academic year next week.

Though loosely based on the guidelines provided to private schools last month, the ministries gave detailed step-wise directions to governmental school heads, teachers and nurses on how to deal with a suspected A(H1N1) case, including requiring a child with suspected swine flu to wear a mask and remain at home in isolation for
seven days.

Dr Najla Sajwani, Deputy Director of Primary Healthcare, Sharjah presented the ‘Format 1’ to a huge gathering of women at the Sharjah Cultural Palace and said that if followed to the point, suspected cases could be
contained effectively.

Making the child wear a mask immediately, checking for the respiration rate and fever as well as notifying parents are among the main steps the school nurse has to take before referring the child to the nearest clinic.

Parents will have to take their child to the clinic along with an original form that states the child’s condition.

The copies of the form will be sent to the school health and preventive health departments at the ministries.

Doctors at the health centre will be required to issue a sick leave certificate clearly mentioning “isolation for 7 days” even for suspected cases.

They will also start the child on an anti-viral if needed. However, the child will not be allowed back to school before the seven days are over even if his/her condition improves.

The nurse will also for the next seven days continue to monitor the condition of whoever has come into contact with the child showing flu-like symptoms.

“We will be providing a box of surgical masks to all school clinics,” said Dr Najla. She also said that private schools too should follow the same format of reporting while parents should ask for a leave certificate from whichever doctor they consult.

Dr Mariam Matroushi, Head of School Health Department at the MoH said while referring to students from private schools that if a child has a health card, he/she can be taken to a centre as well.

Government schools are expected to start the new academic year 2009-2010 next week after a ministry decision to postpone classes until after Ramadan.

The ministries will organise two more workshops — one for male school heads and another for private schools today and tomorrow.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.ae