30 students of KB Asifabad's Kagaznagar school ill, 2nd food poisoning incident in Sept

Hyderabad: In a suspected case of food poisoning, nearly 30 students from Kagaznagar Minority Residential School in Komaram Bheem-Asifabad district fell ill on Monday evening.

Komaram Bheem-Asifabad district medical and health officer (DMHO) Prabhakar Reddy told NewsMeter that all the children have been discharged. He visited the school on Tuesday morning to check the food quality.

"There was no issue with the quality of food on Tuesday morning. However, some students have confided with me that they have seen small insects in their rice for the last few days. They said they had raised the issue with the school management who paid no heed," Mr. Prabhakar said.

He added, "A sample of yesterday's food has been sent to the labs to check the quality. If the school is caught providing bad food or unhygienic food, then strict action will be taken."

The students reportedly began vomiting and fell unconscious after having dinner on Monday. The local police shifted the children to Kagaznagar hospital for treatment.

Mr. Prabhakar further stated that all the children are out of danger now.

Food poisoning in TS education institutes

This is the second food-poisoning incident in Telangana schools in the last month.

On 6 September, 34 students of Tribal Girls Ashram in Wardhannapet fell ill in the evening after consuming food provided by the school.

On 15 July, thousands of students of IIIT Basar fell sick after eating the fried rice provided by the mess in the afternoon. A team from FSSAI visited the campus for a food inspection on 16 July. Despite this, students say the food quality or taste hasn't improved.

According to the data by Hakku Initiative, a social campaign of the Institute of Perception Studies Delhi, 347 students fell ill due to contaminated food and water in various government residential schools and colleges in Telangana in August 2022 alone. Over the span of eight months, 1,070 students suffered from food poisoning in the state.

Telangana Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan was upset after knowing that 31 students from the Minority Residential School in Kaghaznagar in Kumrambheem-Asifabad district have been hospitalised due to food poisioning. She immediately instructed Raj Bhavan to contact Kumrambheem-Asifabad district administration to find out how the students are doing now. Raj Bhavan enquired and briefed the Governor about the recovery of all the affected students. They further informed her that the DMHO Kumrambheem-Asifabad, has been enquring about the incident. She expressed relief in knowing that all students have been discharged from the hospital and are doing well now.