Deworming day is an important move
February 10 is ‘National Deworming Day’ when children aged 1 to 19 years will be given deworming tablets called Albendazole. This is a groundbreaking initiative focused on reducing the threat of parasitic worm infections, a widespread health issue affecting over 241 million children in India alone. In Goa the Directorate of Health Services has reportedly procured over four lakh Albendazole tablets to be given to children as part of the National De-worming Day under the National Health Mission. It is understood that as part of the campaign, 1381 schools and 1,112 anganwadis around the state will be covered. While in other parts of the country children who do not go to school will also be administered the tablet, no such step appears to have been envisaged in the program in Goa. Just like the Polio is being administered to all children irrespective of they attending school or not, the deworming campaign in Goa should also cover all children, including children of migrants and not just school-going children. Just like the campaign for eradication of Polio in the country has been a successful one, the campaign against worm infection in children should also meet with the same success. For this awareness should be created among the people about the need to deworm their children.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Carnival fun
In the article ‘Who’s having fun during Carnival?” (The Goan Everyday, Feb 8), it is difficult to understand what the writer wants to know. The obvious answer is all those who want to enjoy themselves and who participate in the dancing and merry making celebrations without inhibitions. That it happens to precede the holy season of Lent does not make it a Christian festival. Today, it is one of Goa’s greatest tourist attractions. Unlike the colonial days where the celebrations often turned into vulgarity and sexual promiscuity, the floats paraded through the city nowadays are instrumental in enhancing Goa’s cultural image by showcasing various items like traditional and native Kunbi dances and Goan Mando, besides other aspects of Goan culture and art.
A F Nazareth, Porvorim
Portuguese gateway
We must not pretend to ignore our past forays outside our motherland .Most of our ancestors crossed Indian and Goan borders to eke out a decent living, Those who worked as seamen lost family contact for over a year, except through postal mail that took ages .Their contributions added to the wellbeing of loved ones at home and also improved the economic conditions of the state. Nobody considered this migration as anti-national or viewed it with blinkered glasses Then another opportunity opened in Gulf. Now, the flow is towards USA and Canada, where once again our citizens prosper by sheer dint of hard work.
Hence many youth have realised that the Portuguese passport entitlement is the key to greener pastures. The least the Govt of Goa could do is to work out dual citizenship system instead of hanging a sword of defranchising those who immigrate for employment. There is a wrong perception perpetuated that immigration is anti-national.
Nelson Lopes Chinchinim
