Revisiting sick bays and medication at school

Early this year social media was awash with news that a 16-year-old student lost his life in a sick bay due to negligence on the part of the school administration.

According to local media reports, the student who was in form two in one of the public schools in Morogoro region had serious malaria and did not get proper medical attention.

Apparently neither his parents nor his relatives were notified concerning his condition until when his situation got worse.

He was allegedly given Cristapen injection and a drip, apparently the next day when his fellow students went to see him they were not allowed to do so according to the reports.

It is said that on the next morning, the doctor who is said to live more that 10 kilometres away from the school arrived and advised that the student’s mother should come and pick him after they realised that his condition was getting worse and it did not take long before he died.

This is one of the worst things that can happen to any child who is in a boarding school as far as their health management is concerned and it is even more painful for a parent who believes that his child is in safe hands.

A small survey done by Success shows that some schools have very little to offer when they are faced with emergency cases for students who fall ill.

For instance, a visit to Uhambingeto Secondary School in Iringa region early this year painted a grim picture.

Some of the challenges the school faces include shortage of water and hostels, limited number of teachers and lack of a sick bay.

Selsus Mwilike, head teacher of the school says that they do survive by the grace of God and prays no student fall ill.

“When parents bring in their children, they leave everything to us and don’t look back therefore we are left to take care of them completely. We only pray to God that nothing serious happens to them,” he explains.

According to Mr Mwilike, they neither have a specific place for students who get sick to stay as they get treatment nor have a qualified health expert to attend to them.

“We don’t have enough dormitories, how then is it possibly to have a sick bay? For now we have a teacher who is responsible for students when they get sick and if things get serious we take them to Anglican Health Centre located 2.5 kilometres from here because the district hospital is 25 kilometres away,” he said.

He adds that it important for schools to have sick bays especially those that are far away from the city where all the necessary facilities can be easily accessed. He however admits that it is something, which has not been able to be accomplished by many boarding schools due to various reasons.

“The teacher we have tasked with handling sick students is not qualified to do so but we have no choice,” he points out. Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of Non-Government Schools and Colleges (TAMONGSCO) secretary general Benjamin N.M. Nkonya says for a school to be given authorisation by the government to operate, it must score more than 400 points in the checklist.

“The checklist has 541 points and for a school to have a licence, the government focus more on what we call pedagogical points, that is they look more on issues like teaching materials such as books, laboratories and classes. From there is when the point of environmental factor comes in and here is where health falls,” he explains.

“Having a sick bay or a first aid kit is important but above all there must be a nurse or midwife who is capable of giving professional health care to students and at the same time capable of administering drugs. This is what the law requires schools to have. If a school fails to do so then the possibility of it not being registered or its registration being annulled is high.”

According to Mr Nkonya, most of government schools have failed to meet the above requirement and continuously operate without the necessary first aid kits and sick bays.

His opinion is supported by January Kayombo, a teacher based in Dar es Salaam. According to him, schools are supposed to have not only sick bays for borders but also a first aid room even for day scholars.

“This is very important so long as we have children in our surrounding in addition to having a qualified health expert who can look after them and not just any person to handle such emergency cases. Schools are advised to employ nurses and they need to be in uniform,” he explains.

However, some schools have failed to do so and this according to Kayombo has highly been caused by irresponsible education officers who are supposed to follow up but instead end up being lured with empty promises from some of the school owners.

“At some point government cannot afford to hold other private schools responsible because some public schools don’t have the sick bays or the first aid rooms let alone the qualified nurses for the job except for few old government school which were opened decades ago,” he narrates.

Despite the regulation set by the Ministry of Education, some schools have failed to comply with the rule thus endangering lives of the students.

Ivan Mosha, 17 had to transfer schools after he was diagnosed with serious health issues and his previous school failed to offer a proper emergency care.

“It was two years back; I was in form three in a school located in Kilimanjaro region. I remember how I fell sick. I had severe abdominal bloating and pain with mild fever followed by nausea and vomiting. The school thought that I had malaria and therefore I was given antimalarial dose, after one week things got worse and so I had to be transferred to a nearby health centre and that’s when they realised that I had appendicitis. They had to call my parents but luckily I had relatives who came to pick me and took me to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre where I was operated,” says Ivan.

He says if his school had proper health facilities, his condition wouldn’t have gotten that worse therefore wishing that schools should take more precaution than just focusing on how much they will collect tuition fees.

“Most schools have medical forms which we have to fill in but I doubt if it has anything to do with our health management at all,” he explains.

But while there are some bad experiences from students who almost lost their lives because of poor health management, there few who appreciate how organised their schools have been when it comes to their health.

Beatrice John is one among many who attended a boarding school.

“I attended Kibosho Girls Secondary School in Kilimanjaro region and I can say our school had a well organised system for caring for students who fell sick. We had a sick bay and it had more than ten beds if I can remember well and there was a particular nurse who was well trained to handle all emergency cases.

“If we were sick, we could first go in there. They would determine how sick we were, and if it happened that one needed to go and see a doctor then they took us to hospital. They would recommend that after consulting our parents,” she adds. She says the school was not very far from the hospital so if things got worse it was easy to be rushed to there for proper care. Janet Kisaka, 42, a mother of three says as a parent, she always worry when her children get sick.

“We worry when are infants, we worry when they are young, and we continue to worry about our children when they become adults, we just can’t help it and I have seen it happening even to my two children who are in boarding school now,” says Janet.

“When your child is far away from home, you worry even more. It is difficult, as a parent, to hear from your child who is in a boarding school that she is sick and it is a difficult time for them as well. This may be the first time that your child is sick without having you around to care for her and the situation becomes worse if you have no idea of how the school is going to care for them,” explains Janet. She admits that most of her concerns when she enrolled her children in school was the environment including the number of classes, teachers and teaching materials available and not the availability of a health expert or a sick bay.

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