Students in Andhra College Fall Ill, Officials Deny Food Poisoning

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Several girls at the Social Welfare girl’s hostel in Andhra Pradesh’s Thiruvuru town in Krishna District fell ill on Saturday, 29 December, after eating a meal, in a suspected case of food poisoning.

According to media reports, students on Friday night, were served chicken, following which several residents of the hostel complained of nausea, vomiting and stomach pain on Saturday.

Four out of the twelve students who were rushed to the Area government hospital, were administered fluids.

However, the authorities denied that it was a case of food poisoning and said it was ‘indigestion’.

“The case is not food poisoning, it is just indigestion. At 5:30 pm on Friday, the children had Ragi malt and around 6:30 pm to 7 pm, they had meals with chicken curry. The children were all right all through the night. From 8 am onwards, they started developing stomach pain, motion and vomiting. As of now six students are in hospital and their condition is stable, while six others were sent back to hostel after some simple medication,” Tiruvuru MRO Bujji Babu was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, social welfare department joint director Prasad said that an inquiry had been initiated into the incident and a report on the matter would be submitted to the state government shortly. He also assured that strict action would be taken, if anyone was found guilty.

Last month, 40 girls from the BC Ladies Hostel in Suryapet in Telangana were admitted to the local government hospital after presenting with symptoms of food poisoning.

The girls had all eaten dal and rice for dinner at their hostel mess and within hours, all of them developed severe stomach pain and vomiting, and had to be taken to the Suryapet Government Hospital.

Doctors at the hospital immediately began treatment for food poisoning, after which all 40 of them recovered and were discharged, according to officials from the Suryapet District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) Dr Niranjan’s office.

(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute)