Karimnagar: In yet another case of food poisoning in residential school hostels, 31 students suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea after they had their dinner at Mahatma Jyotiba Phule BC Residential School Hostel in Sharmanagar here on Tuesday.
The school has 400 students. On Monday night, students were served curry and sambar. After study hours, they went to their rooms to sleep.
At night, some students suffered from stomach pain and vomiting. The situation worsened some suffering diarrhoea. Hostel staff shifted 23 of the students to a government hospital.
Revenue divisional officer K. Maheshwar told Deccan Chronicle that as soon as students complained of vomiting and diarrhoea, they were shifted to the government hospital. Doctors said students had mild symptoms of diarrhoea and, after treatment, they were sent back to hostel by 9 am.
Later, when some other students suffered with the same symptoms, they were shifted to the hospital at 10 am. Their parents were intimated. Three doctors and nursing staff were deployed in the hostel as precautionary measures, he added.
Regional medical officer Dr Naveena told Deccan Chronicle that the hostel staff admitted 23 students to the hospital at 4 am. They are in the age groups of 13 to 15. They showed mild symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea. All were treated here. They recovered by 8 am and were sent back to their hostel.
Had it been food poisoning, all students would have suffered. It might be food allergies, she added.
Union minister of state for home and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar called on district collector Pamela Satpathy to inquire about the condition of students. The collector assured him that all students had been discharged from the hospital.
Members of student unions reached the hostel and held protests, demanding immediate action against the school principal, hostel staff and the contractor who supplies food items to the hostel. The police intervened to restore normalcy.
