PESHAWAR, May 24: The NWFP Health Department is likely to restore the school health service in the province, sources said. “The provincial government had launched the school health service when Prime Minister Mohammed Khan Junejo was in power. However, the programme was discarded after the dismissal of the government,” the sources said, adding that the programme had been launched with a view to providing health service and health education to schoolchildren.

Lack of offices, absence of a transport system and shortage of medicines forced the provincial government to discontinue with the service. The NWFP had about 150 medical officers and as many technicians who had been posted in all 24 districts of the province.

“Doctors and paramedical staff used to visit schools to carry out medical check-ups. The staff was merged with the health department after the service was abandoned in the late eighties,” the sources added.

However, they said the need for re-launching the health service was being strongly felt in the wake of increasing cases of iodine deficiency, weight loss and malnutrition among children.

“Due to lack of awareness about personal hygiene and physiology, a large number of students suffer from preventable diseases,” the sources said and added that the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and the World Health Organization (WHO) had asked the health department to identify districts for the launching of pilot projects.

An official said the WHO had launched the school health service in Taxila about two years back. Now it asked the federal health ministry to launch a similar project in the NWFP, he added.

“We have prepared a PC-1 for the project wherein Dera Ismail Khan has been selected as the district where a pilot project would be launched. The WHO has also been informed and its response is awaited,” the sources added.

The sources said that negotiations were also being held with the NCHD for the initiation of school health service. According to them, the health department believed that through an effective health service and education at the school level, 50 per cent of diseases relating to personal hygiene could be checked.

“Likewise, by educating students about the importance of safe drinking water and sanitation, the spread of 40 per cent water-borne diseases could be checked,” the sources said.

A recent study conducted in the US has shown that students of those schools where elaborate health services are available show better learning skills than students of those schools which have no or inadequate health services.

The sources said malnutrition among schoolchildren was the major problem which hampered their physical and mental growth. Likewise, iodine deficiency caused goitre, which could be overcome by creating awareness through health education.

“Proper hand-wash, cutting of nails and involvement in physical activities play an important role in the development of a child,” they said, adding that many students suffered from poor eye-sight and could not see blackboards clearly but teachers did not pay heed to such things, as a result of which the problem aggravated.