As thousands of students return to school today after the long summer holidays, schools are still without designated people to administer medication to pupils facing life-or-death situations.

This is set to change following an agreement between the Education Ministry and the Malta Union of Teachers.

A call for expressions of interest is to be issued calling on people in the teaching profession to become the school’s first aiders. That will allow them to administer the life-saving medication in schools.

Children with food allergies, diabetic students and even those who suffer asthma attacks are at great risk at school if teachers continue refusing to administer the medication.

Teachers have been following a directive given to them by their union not to administer the medication in view of a legal vacuum.

But according to a spokesman for the Education Ministry, an agreement has been reached with the union for some teachers to be appointed as the school’s first-aiders – they would be able to administer the medicine until the ambulance arrives.

“Following the agreement reached between the ministry and the MUT, an expression of interest will be issued in the coming days to teaching grades who would like to perform first aid duties on a voluntary basis against an allowance.

“Chosen applicants will be requested to receive training in First Aid and other life-saving procedures,” the spokesman said when contacted.

The designated people will be responsible for the administration of EpiPen, among others. This comes as good news to parents who had expressed concern that they were sending their children to a place where, in the eventuality of an emergency, they would be left to die.

Food allergies can be life threatening. The EpiPen is an auto-injector used for the emergency treatment of life-threatening allergic reactions caused by allergens. They are intended for immediate self-administration as emergency supportive therapy and must be followed by emergency treatment in hospital.

EpiPens contain a single dose of epinephrine, which is injected into the outer thigh.

The medication is also used for diabetic, epileptic and asthmatic children.

The device is used by holding the pen firmly, pressing the orange tip into the thigh and keeping it there for 10 seconds. Upon removal, the orange tip covers the needle again.

MUT president Kevin Bonello told Times of Malta that it was the union that proposed identifying two teachers per school who would be the designated first-aiders and who would receive all the training required to provide first-aid, including administering the EpiPen.

He said the teachers had taken issue with the lack of a legal framework to cover them if something went wrong.