The national de-worming exercise of pupils in the Volta region may have to be suspended pending investigations into rumours that some pupils had died after being administered the de-worming tablets. This was disclosed by Miss Rosemond Keteku, Deputy Volta regional director of Education, when panicky parents stormed schools in the Ho municipality to stop school authorities from administering the drugs to their wards. This was in reaction to reports from the southern sector of the region that some pupils had died after taking the de-wormers. Miss Hilda Djokoto a teacher of Agbozume EP Basic Schools, told the Ghana News Agency on telephone that some parents had reported deaths in the Keta area. She said no death had occurred at the EP School contrary to claims by parents to that effect. Reports of deaths from the de-wormer had come from Hohoe, Aflao, Keta, Kpandu, Dzodze and Akatsi area but had not been confirmed. Miss Keteku said Educational authorities in the Keta and Akatsi areas denied that deaths occurred as a consequence of the exercise and that the exercise had not even started in their schools. The Regional Minister, Kofi Dzamesi told Adom FM that the rumours were widespread, however there was no truth in it. He said no one who peddled the rumour of deaths was able to provide proof, while his checks with the Regional Director of Health Services proved there was nothing wrong with the medicines being administered. He said he would be holding a press conference on Tuesday, alongside simultaneous ones in the affected districts to reassure parents of the sanctity of the drugs being administered. The national weeklong de-worming exercise, which began on Monday February 12, was expected to cover children in public schools from kindergarten to the junior secondary school. The United Nations International Children's Education Fund (UNICEF) is providing Mebendazole tablets and syrups for the exercise. Source: GNA