Hyderabad: A 13-year-old Dalit student, studying Class 6, died, while 29 students fell sick due to food poisoning at Social Welfare Ashram School in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district.
The victim, Chinnalachi Prashanth, died while undergoing treatment in Rainbow Hospital, Banjara Hills at 9 pm on Tuesday, while 16 others were treated in separate hospitals and are stated to be out of danger, police said.
The victims showed symptoms of food poisoning on April 11 afternoon while having dinner together at their hostel mess, police sources said.
On April 13, I received a call from school class teacher P. Rajeshwari, who informed me that my son Prashanth along with others, was admitted to Bhongir area government hospital. We rushed there. My son was suffering from acute pain in the stomach, and he was vomiting with severe dysentery and high fever, the victim’s father Chinnalachi Mahesh said.
The other students were recovering but Prashanth’s health was deteriorating. As the doctors suggested we should immediately shift him to a better hospital, we rushed my son to Miracle Hospital in Boduppal, where his pulse rate went down. He was kept on a ventilator for two days but he showed no improvement. Later, on our MLC’s reference, we shifted him to Rainbow Hospital in Banjara Hills on Tuesday, the victim’s father said.
“After examination, the doctors informed me that my son’s condition was serious. His brain is dead and he went into a coma. By night, they declared him dead,” Mahesh said.
On coming to know about my son, my wife Prajata twice fell unconscious and went into deep trauma, he said.
The Social Welfare Ashram School is located in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district. It has over 480 students studying from Class 5 to Class 9.
After consuming the food on April 11, the affected students exhibited symptoms of food poisoning. The staff, however, did not disclose the issue to parents instead they shifted all the 30 students in rooms for two days and gave them self-medication. When their situation did not improve, they shifted them to an area government hospital and informed their parents, G Mallikarjuna, the victim's uncle, said.
Prashanth’s father had to sell his wife’s gold to pay over Rs 3.80 lakh in hospital bills. The state government should give compensation to the poor family who lost their kin due to the negligence of the asharam management and stern action should be taken against them, Malikarjun said.
It is reported that on Tuesday another six students fell victim to food poisoning and are undergoing treatment in an area government hospital in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district.
However, the school management said that they immediately shifted the students to an area government and suspect that the students may have consumed rotten Ugadi food stored in their lunch boxes, while parents attribute the illness to the poor quality and cleanliness of the meals provided at the school.
Mahesh, the only bread earner in the family works as a car driver in Borabanda. Prashanth was his second son, his elder daughter C. Siri (15), and youngest son C Teju (9), belonged to Jiblakpally village of Bodan Pochampally Mandal, Nalgonda district.
The police registered a case of death due to negligence under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code and the case is being probed, said K Suresh Kumar, inspector of Bhongir town police station.
The victim’s body after the post-mortem has been handed over to the family for his last rites, which will be performed at their native place.
The other students who fell sick due to food poisoning are identified as S Ajay Kumar and C Rishit, N Srivastav, T. Karthik, A Ajay, Basantkumar, M. Yeswant, and P Jaswant. They are undergoing treatment at the Bhuvanagiri Area Hospital.
Kalyan Krishna was shifted to Miracle Hospital in Uppal and discharged on April 15, while S. Ajay Kumar and M. Yeswant were shifted from Bhuvanagiri Hospital to Osmania Hospital on April 15.
