The parents of 81 out of 131 preschool students agreed to blood or urine tests for their children, after allegations of staff giving sedatives to students at their school, the New Taipei City Department of Health said yesterday.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taipei Hospital on June 8 began providing urine drug tests for young children associated with a private preschool in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), which is under investigation for allegedly giving sedatives to its students.
Among 29 children who underwent a urine test at the hospital, one tested positive for traces of benzodiazepines, it said.
Photo: CNA
The child is a student of another branch of the preschool in New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), and the concentration of benzodiazepines was 20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) in the first test and 29ng/ml in the second test, the ministry said on Thursday.
The test results are considered negative, as the cut-off concentration is 200ng/ml in a urine benzodiazepine screening test, it said, adding that the specimen would be further analyzed using a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method.
Taipei Hospital on Friday announced that it has expanded its free health consultation and urine drug testing for barbiturates and benzodiazepines to all preschool students in New Taipei City.
The New Taipei City Government notified parents of students at the preschool in Sijhih District that a medical team from New Taipei City Tucheng Municipal Hospital was yesterday to offer free urine drug testing to students at the preschool.
New Taipei City Department of Health Director Chen Jun-chiu (陳潤秋) yesterday said that the parents of 81 among 131 of the preschool’s students agreed to let their child undergo urine or blood drug tests.
Sixty-four of the students would take a urine test, five would get a blood test and 12 would do both tests, and the results are expected in two to three days, Chen said.
Separately, New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Liu He-jan (劉和然) said the city would provide health consultations and urine drug tests for all preschool children across the city at seven designated hospitals in New Taipei City.
The seven hospitals are New Taipei City Tucheng Municipal Hospital, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City Hospital’s Sanchong Branch, Taipei Medical University’s Shuang Ho Hospital, Mackay Memorial Hospital’s Tamsui branch, Cathay General Hospital’s Sijhih Branch, and Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital.
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