For the fourth consecutive day today, schoolchildren were rushed to hospitals with complaints of nausea and vomiting after they were given iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets supplied by the Health Department. As many as 15 students from Government Middle School at Hamzapur village in Fatehabad were rushed to the local General Hospital with symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. While 13 of them were discharged after treatment, two of them, Gurjeet and Dilraj, were admitted to the hospital due to their bad condition. Six more students were admitted to the community health centre (CHC) at Ratia in Fatehabad today. Earlier, nearly 100 schoolchildren had come to the CHC, Ratia, in the past three days with similar problems. A spokesperson of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) today said the complications witnessed after consuming IFA tablets was a normal phenomenon and there was nothing to worry about. Some local doctors have questioned the very logic behind giving a weekly dose of IFA to children for management of anemia. “I have been in practice for over 40 years and I have never heard of any long acting iron tablets, which could remain active in the body for a week,” said a doctor. Meanwhile, Dr Mukta Kumar, Medical Superintendent of the General Hospital, Fatehabad, has written to the Civil Surgeon suggesting him to ban the distribution of four different batches of IFA tablets being distributed in government schools. Recent incidents May 14: 20 children were taken ill at Bhuderwas. May 15: 20 children from Bhunderwas and 32 children from Burj village were brought to the CHC, Ratia. May 16: Eight children from Bhunderwas and 20 children from Burj were admitted to the CHC, Ratia. May 17: Six children had come to the CHC, Ratia, and 15 children from Hamzapur village were admitted to the General Hospital, Fatehabad. Dr VK Jain, SMO of the CHC, Ratia, said some of the children had come again after they had been once discharged.