ELURU: As many as 15 students of Mandal Parishad Upper Primary school at Hukumpet in Gopalapuram mandal fell ill after having mid-day meal on Saturday. Parents of the students who fell ill, told media that after having food, 15 students started vomiting and complained of loose motion. Despite falling ill, the headmaster and teachers of the school did not bother to shift them to hospital.
The parents on receiving information about the incident, rushed to the school and took them to the public health centre (PHC) in Hukumpet in auto-rickshaws. Four students Gummadi Subramanyam, (Class 3, Gummapu Akshaya Raju (Class 4), Dake Venkat (Class 3) and Cholla Akhila Rani (Class 4) were later shifted to the PHC at Polavaram as their condition deteriorated and were administered saline. However, doctors declared that all the students were out of danger.
The teachers of the school said that they had informed about the incident to the senior teachers. “The students were served sambar rice and chakkrapongali today. Those who ate sambar rice fell ill, started vomiting and complained of loose motions. Meanwhile, those who had chakkrapongali did not develop similar symptoms.”
However, doctors said that they could not confirm now whether it was a case of food poisoning as the food samples were yet to be tested in a laboratory. The parents said that they complained about the unhygienic condition in the school premises to the education department officials but no action had been taken so far.