Students being kept under observation; two had to be put on IV fluids, antiemetics
Representation Pic
About 16 children, aged 11 and 12, were rushed to Shatabdi hospital on Friday morning after consuming a mid-day meal at the civic-run Anikgaon Hindi-medium school in Chembur. Of the 16, two had to be put on IV fluids and antiemetics.
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The meals were supplied by Shantai Mahila Udyogic Co-operative Society, which provides cooked food to approximately 6,797 students in 24 municipal schools.
As on any other day, the food was sent to all the schools in the morning and was supplied to 189 students of Anikgaon Hindi-medium school and 51 students of Anikgaon Marathi-medium school in the Anikgaon municipal school building.
Even though all the reports are normal, all 16 are being kept under observation at the hospital. “We did take some X-rays and also conducted liver and renal function tests that are generally conducted after poisoning. We also took some lung X-rays; even they were normal," said Dr Sunil Pakle, chief medical officer at Shatabdi hospital.
Explaining the rationale behind some of these tests, he said aspiration—which refers to inhaling a foreign substance through food or liquids or during vomiting—can lead to lung diseases, while poisonous toxins can harm the liver and kidneys.
The students consumed the food around 9.50 am and started showing symptoms around 10:20 am. Initially, three out of the 16 had started vomiting, soon followed by 13 others feeling nauseous and subsequently throwing up. Meanwhile, samples of the food supplied in the school have been sent to a BMC-run lab in G/N ward for testing.
Dr Pakle has been working with the hospital since 2016. The last such incident he witnessed in his hospital was in 2018. That year, the death of a 12-year-old student at a BMC school in Shivaji Nagar in Govandi was linked to deworming tablets supplied at the school, leading to mass panic. Later that year, parents of about 400-odd students enrolled in five BMC-run schools in the area had admitted them to Rajawadi Hospital and Shatabdi Hospital.
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