This is the second time in six days that students have fallen ill at Maganoor Zilla Parishad School due to suspected food poisoning.
In Narayanpet district, nearly 40 students from Zilla Parishad High School in Maganoor took ill due to suspected food poisoning on Tuesday. It may be recalled that not less than 50 students fell ill six days ago due to food poisoning.
Once again the Zilla Parishad School is again in the news for the wrong reason.
As many as 40 students have been admitted to hospital with symptoms of food poisoning. The students complained of stomach ache, vomiting and diarrhoea after eating a midday meal.
The students took ill around 3:30 pm. The school staff rushed them to the Maktal Government Hospital.
Doctors at the hospital immediately swung into action and provided treatment to students. A doctor even resuscitated a girl and saved her life.
Former MLA Chittem Ram Mohan Reddy visited the hospital and inquired about the student’s condition. He expressed strong anger over the negligence of the authorities, pointing out that a similar food poisoning incident had occurred in the same school just a week ago. He criticised the authorities for allowing such incidents to happen, questioning how food poisoning could occur when meals are being prepared under supervision, blaming the negligence. He also stated that he was afraid to visit schools because of such incidents.
The previous week, over 50 students had fallen ill after eating worm-infested food at the same school. Of them, 15 students were admitted to the Government General Hospital in Mahabubnagar, where they were served worm-infested food for breakfast. The next day, the rice served for the midday meal was also found to be contaminated with worms.
Taking a serious view of the incident last week, the Narayanpet district administration suspended three officials and issued show-cause notices to three others. An enquiry led by Additional Collector Ben Shalom was initiated. This time, several heads may roll after 40 students fell ill on Tuesday.
