City of San Fernando (La Union) – The Department of Health (DOH), in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd), and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), this region, successfully implemented the National School Deworming Day in all Public Elementary Schools in Region I on July 29, 2015. The kick-off program was launched at West Central Elementary School I covered court, Dagupan City, Pangasinan.

It was attended by Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez, Dr. Valentino Timbang, Jr., Medical Officer IV of DOH Central Office, Dr. Myrna C. Cabotaje of DOH R-I, Supt. Froserfina J. Bravo of Dagupan Schools Division, and representatives from DILG R-I. In a message read from DOH Secretary Janette L. Garin, she emphasized the importance of deworming program to children and its positive impacts in terms of health and education. In her message, she also thanked their partner agencies nationwide in making the “Oplan Goodbye Bulate” campaign a major success.

As of the latest report, a total of 480,996 school-aged children from different public schools in 14 divisions of region I were administered with chewable deworming tablets after the feeding program. These children were also taught with the proper hand washing and tooth brushing skills by the DOH staff.

DepEd Region I guarantees the activity will continuously be monitored paying attention to the effectiveness of the Parasitic program of the DOH through the surveys to be conducted a week after the mass deworming.