Over 30 GMC hostel students fall ill over contaminated water

Hyderabad: At least 35 to 40 undergraduate students of Gandhi Medical College (GMC) fell sick at the boys' hostel, allegedly due to contaminated drinking water.The students experienced symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting for over a week, but the issue came to light only on Wednesday. Most of the affected students were treated at Gandhi Hospital and are now recovering.A third-year student said complaints had been raised earlier with the college administration. "Many of us had diarrhoea and vomiting over the past week. While the water tanks are cleaned periodically, we later learnt that a leakage in an underground pipeline extending up to the terrace may have led to contamination. Students have now started recovering after buying drinking water from outside," he said.He added that authorities called a plumber on Thursday to fix the suspected pipeline issue and prevent further contamination.Responding to the incident, GMC principal Dr K Indira said around 30 students out of nearly 600 hostel residents reported symptoms. "There are students who complained of diarrhoea among the 300 UG students from both the boys' and girls' hostels. Hostel water supply is routinely cleaned and chlorinated and passes through filtration systems. All affected students were treated on an outpatient basis, and no hospital admissions were required," she said. Dr Indira added that, as a precaution, water samples from the hostels have been sent to the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Narayanaguda, for testing. "It will take 48 hours for the reports. As a precaution, we have been asked to supply bottled water," she said.
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