‘Do not send sick pupils to school’

DUBAI // A campaign to educate parents on ways to protect their children from developing ear, nose and throat (ENT) infections has been launched by Dubai Health Authority.

The campaign, timed with the return to school, will be looking at ways to protect children from contracting upper respiratory tract infections.

“One of the best ways for all parents to ensure that children do not pick up infections at school is to make sure they do not send their sick child to school to avoid rapid spread of infections especially among young children,” said Dr Jamal Kassouma, ENT Consultant at Dubai Hospita.

“Even schools should refuse to accept sick children and ask parents to take their sick kids home. Sending sick children to school is one of the main reasons school children face recurrent upper respiratory tract infections because the virus spreads fast due to close contact among children who spend several hours in the same environment.”

He said it is important for children who swim to take certain precautions to avoid upper respiratory tract infections.

“Parents should not take their children out of swimming pools and straight into the air-conditioned environment. Any sudden change in the weather from warm and vice versa, can affect the immunity of the respiratory track and predispose the person to infections.”

Parents are advised not to take upper respiratory tract infections lightly and if the condition persists, they should visit an ENT specialist.

“If the patient has fever for more than one day, a sore throat, headache, earache, facial pain and/or thick discharge from the nose they should visit an ENT specialist as these are symptoms of infections,” said Dr Kassouma.