Ahmedabad students fare the worst in serious ailments than other districts of Gujarat

More school students in Ahmedabad suffer from heart and kidney ailments and cancer compared to their counterparts in other districts of the state. This was revealed during the annual school health check-up programme carried out jointly by the health and education departments of the state. The data showed that of the total 4,540 students suffering from heart ailments, 806 (17.75 per cent) were from Ahmedabad. As many as 533 of the 1,624 children (32.8 per cent) suffering from kidney diseases were from the district while of the total 1,298 students, who were suspected of suffering from cancer 289 (22.2 per cent) were from Ahmedabad.

An official closely associated with the programme, however, cautioned that the numbers should not be seen in exclusivity. 'In terms of absolute numbers, it may seem huge. But when we take into consideration the total number of school children of the district, it is not that alarming.

Moreover, Ahmedabad being the hub has more schools than other districts. So, it is obvious that more cases will be detected here than anywhere else,' said the official.

Giving further insight, another official said it could also be because Ahmedabad being a big city is home to a large number of doctors and specialists.

'The children, who have been identified, have been referred to big hospitals. But that does not mean that they are actually suffering from the ailment. It could just be a suspect case, too. Hence we need to see how many of them need treatment for the respective diseases to know how many children actually suffer from these ailments,' said the official, adding that more doctors and specialists in the city also indicates a better rate of detection.

The school health programme covers all school goers of the state, including those going to anganwadis and private schools. In all, 4,46,691 students were examined in Ahmedabad district while 11,02,548 were within the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) areas.

Meanwhile, Kinnari Mehta, family welfare officer with the AMC, said the large number of students found to be suffering from these ailments is because more students have been examined here. 'Since more than 11 lakh students have been examined, it is obvious that the number of diagnosed children would also be high,' she said.

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