45 SW school girls fall ill due to food poisoning

Hyderabad: Forty five girl students of Social Welfare Residential School and Junior College at Mahendra Hills, Secunderabad, have been admitted in the Fever Hospital at Nallakunta complaining diarrhoea, abdomen pain and vomiting, which are the symptoms of food poisoning.

M Venkatamma, vice-principal of the school, said on Tuesday that all the students consumed fried rice along with egg curry on Sunday evening and khichdi early on Monday. But some of the students reported uneasiness and complained of diarrhoea, vomiting and abdomen pain.

The school authorities informed the matter to the district coordinating officer, district medical and health officer and the Hyderabad district collector. A team of medical officers were rushed to the hostel to take care of the students. They provided first aid and conducted other investigations till 4.00 am on Monday.

As a precautionary measure, they were advised by the higher authorities to shift 45 girls to Fever Hospital on Monday evening. As a precautionary measure some more students were also sent to the hospital on Tuesday. She fervently appealed to the parents of the children not to panic as they are taking necessary medical care to solve the problem and to avoid such incidents in future.

She said that 610 students are studying in both the school and college. It has a very good reputation in studies and pass percentage. It is a social welfare residential educational institution for girl students, who belong to SC and ST communities, studying 5th to 10th class and junior and senior Intermediate.

Dr K Shankar, superintendent of Fever Hospital said on Tuesday, “All the girl students are stable now, except three girls, who are undergoing treatment. They were admitted with typical symptoms of food poisoning after having fried rice, egg curry and khichdi in their hostel. We have collected samples and sent them for analysis. They are stable, but we need to keep them under observation for a couple of days.”

Some girl students, on condition of anonymity, said that the drain water was mixed with drinking water. Some others said that excess amount of bleaching powder was mixed in the water tank. They say that though the school and college premises appear neat, the condition inside the hostels, class rooms and toilets was unhygienic.

There is no water to flush out and to clean the toilets. We have to bring a bottle of water for drinking purpose. We cannot complain to teachers fearing as they may harass us. N Lakshminarayana and S R Usha Latha of Balala Hakkuala Parirakshana Vedika of Marredpally said that it was a very serious matter regarding the health and safety of the children.

Though the school authorities are taking care of the maintenance and other aspects, there is no support from the government and the social welfare department. They pointed out that there is no Social Welfare Minister till date.

All the grants and sanctions were not released for drinking water needs, toilets facilities, scavenging facilities and for various other development works. This is not only the residential school exposed to this risk.

By:Ch Saibaba