VIJAYAWADA: Fifteen students of Government Women’s Social Welfare Residential College were hospitalised on Monday due to food poisoning. Six of them were shifted to Andhra Hospitals as their condition turned serious. One of the girls was shifted to ICU due to low blood pressure. Krishna district collector B Lakshmikantham visited the hospitals and enquired about the students’ health.The girls admitted to Andhra Hospitals have been identified as Divya, Ch Ricka, Vanaja Rani, Rajeswari, Shanti and Rani.
The students said they had eaten chicken curry for lunch on Sunday during the golden jubilee celebrations of Government College Teachers Association. The leftover curry was taken to the women’s hostel and served to the inmates for dinner the same night. Speaking to TNIE, A Sirisha, one of the students, said: “We had chicken both for lunch and dinner. The breakfast we had the next day was not cooked properly. This resulted in students vomiting and having loose motions. Our hostel doesn’t have a kitchen. We get food prepared outside.” However, college authorities denied that the cause of food poisoning was the chicken. They suspected that improperly cooked breakfast might have triggered the problem.
K Sucharitha, a lecturer at the Social Welfare Residential College, said, “The tomato rice that was served to the students for breakfast on Monday morning was half cooked. The condition of the students is stable. We have informed their parents about the problem.”The district collector visited both the hospitals where the students were admitted for treatment and ordered an enquiry into the incident.
“It is a clear case of food poisoning and as the students consumed chicken both afternoon and night, they fell sick. It must have been improperly cooked. As of now all the students are safe and stable and everyone is recovering. We have ordered the nearby welfare hostels to supply food to the students of the Government Women’s Social Welfare Residential College,” he added.The college with a total student strength of 110 is housed in just six rooms. While three rooms are used to run classes, the other three serve as accommodation for the students pursuing B Com (Hons).