Student dies after eating biriyani

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Thiruvananthapuram: An MBBS student died of suspected food poisoning after she ate biriyani that was bought from a hotel in Kazhakootam on the outskirts of the city on Friday.
 
The girl identified as Rajitha Rajiv,19, and her parents Dr P. Rajiv, who works at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, and mother V. Soja, assistant professor bio-chemistry at Medical College Hospital, were returning from Kollam on Friday evening. They stopped at the Kazhakootam hotel and bought biriyani, appam and vegetable curry.
 
Family sources said that after reaching home Rajitha had biriyani and past midnight she complained of uneasiness and nausea. As vomiting continued even on Saturday morning, she was taken to a private hospital near Ulloor. But with her condition deteriorating, she was rushed to the Medical College hospital where she was declared brought dead.
 
Rajitha was first-year MBBS student at JIPMER, Puducherry. The family stays in Neerazhy lane, Ulloor.
 
The Medical College police registered a case of unnatural death following a complaint filed by the girl’s relatives and the body has been kept in the mortuary. The post-mortem examination will take place on Sunday.
 
Medical College Circle Inspector S. Nazarudeen said, “We are looking into all aspects. Whether the actual cause of death was food poisoning or something else would be clear only after we get the post-mortem  report.’’  
 
The police, quoting hotel staff, said about 500 people might have had food from the hotel since Friday evening. Barring Rajitha no one else had complained of any health problems yet.
 
Meanwhile, food safety officials conducted checks at the hotel and suspended its licence temporarily. The officials, however, stated that they could not spot unhygienic conditions or safety issues at the hotel.  
 
D. Sivakumar, designated food safety officer, said, “We conducted checks in the hotel as the family had given a complaint that it was after consuming food from here that the girl started having health problems.
 
After a thorough check at the hotel we did not find anything unhygienic. We have collected the samples of rice, oil and other products used for making the biriyani and these would be examined in the laboratory,” he added.