'Media should take deworming tablet,' says Bihar health minister

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav's son and Bihar's Health Minister Tej Pratap told members of the media that they need to take deworming tablets. M I Khan/ Rediff.com reports from Patna.

Unhappy over repeated questioning by newspersons about the abysmal state of government hospitals and primary health centres in Bihar, state Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav on Monday said there is a need of deworming tablet for media persons.

“Media people should be given deworming tablet as there are dangerous bacteria in their stomach,” Yadav said in his reply to questions about deteriorating health facilities in the state.

Yadav launched a deworming campaign in the state last week in which four crore school children have been targeted for deworming by being administered Albendazole.

According to health officials, Albendazole is drug recommended by the World Health Organization to combat parasitic worms, and has been safely used to treat hundreds of millions of children worldwide.

Yadav made his chide while attending the weekly 'janata ke darbar mein mukhyamantri' programme in Patna.

It is first time that Tej Pratap attended Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's janata darbar.

Yadav’s younger brother and the present Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi was in attendance at the event as well.

During the janata darbar, Kumar heard the grievances of hundreds of people from across the state and tried to provide them justice and solve their problems.