Parents in Xi'an, Shaanxi province protested outside a kindergarten Tuesday after it was alleged the school had been giving students prescription medication without parental consent.
According to Huasheng, on Monday a parent posted on Weibo that her child had been given a pill called 'ABoB' (guanidine hydrochloride) which has been explicitly prohibited for non-prescription use.
The mother, surnamed Cheng, said her daughter showed her the pills after school, saying the teacher gave them to her to ensure she would "never get a cold".
Suspicious, Cheng researched the medication online and alerted other parents. She discovered that taking the pills can cause side effects including sweating, loss of appetite, and low blood sugar. In 1999, the Chinese Food and Drug Administration banned non-prescription use of the medication.
Another parent, surnamed Zhang, told reporters: "two days after taking the pills, my son had a headache [...] woke up sweating at night, and didn't want to eat his food."
At a meeting with school administrators, parents were furious, demanding answers. "Why would they provide this medicine to children? For what purposed?" asked one parent, surnamed Yu. "Who approved it? Who handed them out? How can they explain their actions?"
A spokesperson for the school said children were given the drug at the start of the year when risk of infection was particularly high. The school denied accusations that they'd put their students at harm by giving them the prescription medication.
Update: According to Twitter user @shishiqiushi the drug in question is "Moroxydine Hydrochloride, used to fight flu and chicken pox."
[Image via CNS]
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