Food poisoning: 64 students of SC Hostel hospitalised

Sixty-four students of Model Residential School run by the Scheduled Caste Development Department here fell ill due to suspected food poisoning and were admitted to different hospitals on Sunday night and Monday morning.

The children fell sick after eating  dinner on Sunday night in the school hostel occupied by 265 students.  Health authorities were confused by the fact that only 64 out of 265 students fell ill.

Thirty-nine children, most of them below 13 years, were taken to Kottayam Medical College Hospital where  one  was admitted. Two were being treated at the children’s hospital of the KMCH.   The remaining students were being monitored in the casualty wing of the hospital.

KMCH Superintendent Tiji Thomas Jacob said that the children showed symptoms of food poisoning.

However, without further tests of food samples it was difficult to arrive at a conclusion, he said. Dr Sam Christy of KMCH said that the children were dehydrated due to vomiting and diarrhoea.

Twenty-one children were in Taluk Hospital, Kanjirappally. There the children did not show signs of dehydration, RMO Dr Ujwal Singh said.

The condition of those in the hospital was normal, he said. Four students were being monitored at the Taluk Hospital, Peermedu. Their condition was also stated to be improving.

Dr P J Alloysius, DMO, Idukki, said that swift action of five doctors headed by Dr Manikandan of Peermedu Taluk Hospital on Sunday night helped  stave off a crisis. 

Fifty-five students were taken to the Peermedu Taluk Hospital where five doctors monitored their condition throughout the night, he said. There  was  panic when more children in the hostel took ill in the morning.

E S Biji Mol, MLA, district panchayat president M T Thomas, Peermedu panchayat president Alex Varghese, former panchayat president R Thilakan and DCC general secretary Shahul Hamid were among those who pacified the agitated parents in the morning.

Biji Mol quoting health sources said the chances of food poisoning were  remote as it all began with a few students getting feverish.