The Ministry of Health is supplying 60 medicines free to school clinics. They include vitamins, eye and ear drops, skin creams and antibiotics administered to children for ailments such as fever and bacterial infection.

"This will be a permanent facility for all school clinics, irrespective of the age of the students," said Dr Abdul Ghaffar Mohammed Al Hawi, Undersecretary of Curative Medicine. "Providing better service to the people is what we constantly strive for."

He said students who become seriously ill will either have to be transferred to a hospital or buy the medicine from private pharmacies. The programme has been underway since the start of this academic year.