40 schoolkids fall ill after midday meal in Bihar
Yet another midday meal tragedy appeared to be in the making in Bihar on Friday when 40 schoolchildren fell ill after eating the free school lunch and were hospitalised. Three of the 25 “very sick” children were put under intensive medical care.
The incident happened the day the Supreme Court sought a report from the Centre and the state governments on preventive steps they took to avert disasters in the midday meal scheme like the July 16 death of 23 schoolchildren in Bihar’s Saran district. In his Independence Day speech on Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had promised reforms in the scheme through “concrete measures” to ensure nutrition and hygiene.
All the sick children except three were released from a government hospital in Hajipur near Patna in two phases after preliminary treatment put them out of danger. Teachers at the government primary school at Ramdaha village in Vaishali district’s Rajapakar block rushed all the 40 students first to the local primary health centre and then to the district headquarters hospital as they fell sick after consuming the midday meal.
“The students vomited copiously and complained of acute stomach pain soon after eating their food at the school. As many as 25 very sick students had to be shifted to the headquarters hospital but they were released except three critically ill students,” said Vaishali district education superintendent Shashibhushan Rai.
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