10 girls from a city school in Agartala fall sick, CM orders inquiry

AGARTALA: At least ten students of Bodhjung Girls Higher Secondary School of the city were admitted to Agartala Govt Medical College (AGMC) with a stomach disorder marked by severe abdominal pain and vomiting shortly after coming to school on Thursday.

The school authority said a large number of students raised similar complaints, which resulted in referring as many as 23 girls to the hospital. However, 13 of them were released after sometimes with primary medications and the rest have been kept admitted.

The chief minister holding the education portfolio Dr Manik Saha ordered an inquiry into the incident.

All the affected girls have been staying in a government hostel in the Indiranagar area of the city and all belong to tribal communities. The incident triggered panic among the residents in different hostels in the city. The doctors suspected food poisoning and the health team along with the civil administration rushed to the school as well as to the hostel.

“We have visited both the hostel and school amenities, especially the kitchen and water sources, and collected samples for further testing. The students are stable now and responding fast to the treatment,” said an emergency medical officer in AGMC and added that detailed history of the patients and their food intake for the last 24 hours have been recorded.

However, the school authority claimed that the students didn’t take anything to school but a few confessed that they had some packet food on the way to the classes and said, “We serve mid-day meal in the lunch after fresh cooking as per the menu of the state government and we maintain all parameters of hygiene.”

Meanwhile, the officials who visited the hostel expressed their dissatisfaction during the inspection.

The chief minister Dr Saha, forest minister from BJP’s ally TIPRA Motha Animesh Debbarma, and district magistrate (West) Dr Vishal Kumar met the students in the hospital and the DM visited the school and hostel too.