Over 100 kids fall ill after eating golgappas at Shivratri mela in Jharkhand's Palamu, all safe

DALTONGANJ: Around 100 children fell sick after eating golgappas at a Shivratri Mela in Dwarika village of Palamu on Sunday.

Civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar Sriwastwa on Monday said that 20 children were brought to the community health centre at Panki early Monday morning. They were put on IV drip (intravenous).


“The remaining, with very mild to mild symptoms of vomiting and loose motions, are under treatment at the Ayushman Arogya Mandir in Dwarika. They are being given ORS,” he said.

A team of health personnel from the Panki Community Health Centre is camping at Dwarika, he added.

“We have asked arogya mandir community health officer, Md Naqibullah, to rush any child to the Panki health centre in case of exigency,” he said.

“All had identical symptoms of vomiting and loose motion, but with differences in severity and frequency,” Shriwastwa added.

Naqibullah said that three children in the age group of 7 to 11 years came to their centre first with complaints of vomiting and loose motion. “The kids had fever too. Their parents said that the kids fell ill after eating golgappa at the village mela," he said.

A parent, Manoj Yadav said that his two sons, Rishabh (7), and Sumant (11) had bouts of vomiting and loose motion around 1 am on Monday. They were then rushed to local Ayushman Arogya Mandir at Dwarika.

Panki’s block development officer (BDO)-cum-CO, Lalit Singh said, “There was a mela nearby on Sunday on the occasion of Shivratri near a water body at Kekargarh close to Dwarika village. Two thelas (push carts) were there selling golgappas. Children bought eatables from these two carts and later fell sick post midnight." Asked whether they were identified for any action, he said, “No, in such melas such carts come and go."

Sriwastwa said, "We have sent doctors, paramedics and ambulance from the peripheral govt health facility centres like Manatu and Lesliganj to cater to the children undergoing treatment at the Panki community health centre. When last reports came in, all children are doing fine," he said.