AN online pharmacy in Bury has been inundated with orders after the introduction of a new law to protect asthmatic school children.

Medical Specialists NHS Pharmacy in Knowsley Street has received calls from school staff wanting to obtain inhalers, as it is now legal to hold them in a first aid box.

Before October 1, it was illegal for schools to hold emergency salbutamol inhalers for the use of pupils whose own inhaler was not available.

The new law follows almost four years of campaigning to get inhalers brought into schools.

David Bailey, managing director of Medical Specialists NHS Pharmacy, said: “Tragically, children have died from asthma attacks in school and parents are being warned about an increase in the number of children admitted to hospital after they go back to school in September.

“This is a great move forward in healthcare for children with asthma, and has led to us being inundated with enquiries from schools about how they can get them.”

Schools staff will be given appropriate training and support, relevant to their level of responsibility.

Asthma is the most common chronic condition, affecting one in eleven children. On average, there are two children with asthma in every classroom in the UK.

An Asthma UK survey found that 86 per cent of children with asthma have, at some time, been without an inhaler at school having forgotten, lost or broken it, or the inhaler having run out.