Haryana will suspend its Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) Programme for the summer vacation following reports of schoolchildren becoming ill after the administering of iron and folic acid tablets over the past few weeks. Even as a Government of India team led by the programme manager of the WIFS held a meeting with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) officials to get into the causes of the incidence of illness, NRHM Project Director Rakesh Gupta said the WIFS programme has been suspended for the time being. “We are giving it a one-month break to establish the reasons behind children falling ill, though the symptoms of nausea and stomach ache are known side-effects of iron tablets,” he said. The programme taking off on a negative note is also a cause of concern for the NRHM since the side-effects of the medicine have resulted in reluctance and doubts on the part of the children and parents to embrace the programme. Experts maintain that though the dosage of 100 milligram of iron and 500 microgram of folic acid on a weekly basis is the only efficacious way to deal with anaemia, the side-effects could be a consequence of reaction to the chemically inactive substance in the medicine. Sources said the colouring agent and preservatives in the medicine as also the temperature at which it is transported could be to blame if the number of children falling ill is large. “The only way to check that is to send a new batch of medicine to that area and administer it the following week to the same children. While the common side-effects are even mentioned on the sachet of the tablets, how the medicine is administered is also of crucial importance,” a senior doctor said. The NRHM officials maintain that the timing of administering the medicine is important. “We have already trained the staff to administer the medicine to the children only half-an-hour after a meal and not to administer it to children who are unwell for any reason. There could be instances where these instructions have been taken casually,” sources said. The medicine supplied by an Uttaranchal firm has been procured a United Nations procurement agency. Sources said the NRHM will re-launch the programme though the officials are satisfied that the incidence of side-effects of one per cent is way below the expected number of five per cent. Also, a sensitisation programme to educate the children and their parents about the side-effects may be undertaken before resuming the administration of the tablets.